Satellite
by RiderWitchVampire7
Summary: Kristi and her best friend Sylvia are vampires. But why? They spend their new lives in fear that they will be ripped apart and burned to ashes. Will they be able to escape with the help of their talents? If they do, where will they go? Takes place in Victoria's newborn army during Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Better than summary, hopefully! Rated K plus for vampirism No language etc
1. Prologue

I stumbled out of the darkened movie theater, yawning as the credits rolled up the screen. I glanced at my watch- it was past eleven thirty. I turned to my best friend, Sylvia.

"How'd you like it?"

She shrugged. "It was pretty good. A little cheesy. How did you like it? Was it worth staying up till practically midnight the last night you're sixteen?"

I groaned. "I might regret it tomorrow. Good thing it's not a school night."

We stepped out of the building. Cars whizzed past us on the sidewalk and I felt a couple cold drops of rain on my face.

"Oh well. I'll do my best to keep you awake if you start to doze off during your party."

I had a mental image of me falling asleep and Sylvia whacking me repeatedly with a nearby pillow, and I chuckled. "Thanks. I'll do the same for you."

"I appreciate it. If we both fall asleep… I'll talk to Allison, maybe she can help."

We laughed and continued down the sidewalk, which was steadily getting wetter and more slippery. "You want to go home now?" she asked.

"It'll be a bit in the rain. Maybe we could find somewhere dry and call our parents to come get us."

"Okay. It's not super close, but there's this ice cream place nearby…"

"That sounds good." I agreed to her unfinished proposal. I pulled my wallet out of my bag and checked it. "Oh… I only brought enough money for the movie, though."

"I'll get you some. Happy birthday."

"Thanks. Let me text my parents first."

I pulled out my phone and sent a message to my mom.

 _The movie finished, we're going to grab ice cream. If the rain hasn't stopped by then, could you give us a ride?_

A few seconds later the phone beeped.

 _Sure. See you in a few minutes. Happy Birthday!_

It had been silly to walk here. Sure, it wasn't far, but this was _Seattle._ What was partly cloudy one minute could be downpouring two hours later.

I pocketed the phone. "Lead the way." I told Sylvia.

Sylvia turned around and we walked in the opposite direction. We continued for another maybe three minutes as the rain slowly increased.

"How much farther is this place?" I checked. Sylvia frowned.

"Not much farther. Wait, I think I took a wrong turn, I don't recognize this street."

"There's another street there, if we go right we'll end up back where we were a minute ago."

"Okay. I think we'll be fine from there, I've been to this place a few times. It's just hard to see in the rain."

I nodded in agreement, taking off my glasses and wiping the raindrops off with my shirt. "Maybe we should find a hot chocolate place instead of an ice cream place at this rate."

Sylvia laughed at that as we turned the corner. This street was narrow, and not very well lit, but that wasn't too big of a problem. At least the buildings on either side gave us a brief reprieve from the pouring rain. I wiped my glasses clean again.

"You should seriously get contacts." Sylvia said. I shrugged.

"That might work better. I only really need these for long-distance details, like if I need to see the writing on the board in the front of a classroom when I sit in the back. Or in movie theaters. Someday, I'm going to find someone who knows how to make windshield wipers and help them invent some small enough for glasses."

I stuck the glasses in the small purse I was carrying. Much better.

"Whoa." Sylvia grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop.

"Wh-" I started to ask, then I noticed there was suddenly a man standing in front of us. I couldn't see him very well in the dim light, but he looked around twenty ish.

"Speaking of contacts…" Sylvia trailed off. The man's eyes were bright red. I took a step back. The man eyed us, and I couldn't help but admire him. He was very handsome, with very pale skin and fine, sculpted featured. Something about his gaze made me terrified, but in a strange way. _Danger!_ My instincts screamed at me, but I was frozen. He didn't look like he was about to attack us, he looked like he was measuring us, and yet not in an overly cruel way, almost in an uncaring, professional way.

The man vanished, disappeared, as quickly as he had come. I looked around wildly, but saw nothing.

"Creepy. Let's go." Sylvia said in a tense voice. I took a step forward and suddenly she was on the ground.

"Sylvia?" I yelped. Her eyes were closed. Had she slipped and hit her head? I checked her pulse. She was alive. I spun around trying to figure out how to move her. Then I felt a sudden pain on the back of my head and the world slipped into darkness.

I started to wake up, but my eyes didn't seem to be able to open. I realized my eyes were fine, there was just no light whatsoever. Was the entire city of Seattle stuck in a power outage?

"Two at once." I heard a high-pitched, girlish voice. I froze in fear. "Hmm… maybe I'll be able to manage this, after the other three. These ones look healthy, you have done well."

I started to sit up. Maybe I could sneak away. Once I got somewhere else, I could use my phone to see.

"This one's awake." a different voice said. This one was a man's voice, but it was smooth, melodious. I wasn't sure what to make of it until I felt a sharp pain on my neck. Fire spread through my body, and it didn't matter anymore.

I screamed until I fell unconscious again.

 **A/N: I hope you liked it, I already have the first 17 or so chapters written and counting. I'll put them up as soon as I finish polishing them. Reviews are appreciated, constructive criticism included.**

 **A few facts about me: I'm team Edward, but okay with the existence of Jacob :)**

 **As you can tell by my username, I am Harry Potter/Twilight team Switzerland, but when it comes down to it I'll defend Twilight because most people bash it and it needs more support.**

 **I am also writing another fanfiction, worlds colliding, with my brother. It doesn't include Twilight (YET) because my co-author hasn't read it yet. It does include Eragon, Harry Potter, Mario, Minecraft, and Star Wars. Possible later appearances by Twilight characters and PJO characters. It isn't published yet, so don't go looking for it.**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Here it is! Also, this fanfic will have no language, rated K+ because the rating system said five-year-olds should be able to read K stories, and I don't think vampires drinking blood makes the cut. There will be a little bit of romance later, but the story doesn't focus on it.**

I felt my whole body relax. The pain was finally gone. It had made no sense, the sudden pain, starting on my neck and setting my whole body on fire. It had felt as if it lasted days- not in the way it usually says in books, but literally days. It lasted so long I would have felt bored if my mind wasn't too preoccupied with the fire. And yet, I almost did feel bored. My mind was different- I had been able to feel much more at once than usual. There was more room, room for pain, room for fear, and room for boredom.

The pain was finally gone. I must be dead. It had gotten worse, then started to leave my fingers, my toes, and gather in my chest, where it rose to an even more unbearable temperature before stopping my was no more- except in my throat. It burned with a thirst greater than any I had ever felt. There had to be something nearby to quench it. I listened, hearing breathing nearby. Since when could I hear breathing? No, two people breathing, one steady, one fast. It occurred to me I wasn't breathing. I took a deep breath, and my lungs filled with air. I didn't even notice, because of the _smells_. I smelled old air, cold stone, and a sweet smell I had no name for. It was lovely. I opened my eyes.

The room was pitch black, but I could see just fine. I looked around the room- it looked like some sort of basement. But my sight was wrong- amazing. I could see a spider sitting in a web in the corner across the room, could count each of its legs. My eyesight used to be terrible, I had worn glasses for years. What happened to me?

Another person stepped into my line of vision. I gasped- he was _beautiful._ He was blonde, muscular, and tall. His face was white, perfect. He was like a painted statue, too flawless to be human. The only thing that was off was the crimson red eyes. I heard another gasp next to me- but I recognized it. I sat up- but not really sat up. I thought about sitting up, and by the time the thought occurred to me I was already up. My head turned sideways just as fast.

"Sylvia?" I gasped. My best friend was on the floor next to me, and she was beautiful as well. Her white face was different, as if all her features had remained there, were still hers, but had been improved, were sculpted from white marble and perfected. Her wavy brown hair a little past her shoulders framed her face as she stared at the strange man, then turned to look at me.

Her eyes were a brighter crimson than the man's.

All this occurred to me in less than a second, and she gasped again when she saw me.

"Kristi! Where are we? What _happened_ to you?" Her voice was beautiful as well, clear like a bell, and it sounded like she was singing.

And then I remembered. It was the man we had seen in the street. The memory was hazy, clouded, but I recognized him. I was suddenly on my feet, in a crouch, and a feral snarl broke through my teeth. I prepared to rip him to shreds.

In the back of my head, I noticed these thoughts and panicked. I backed against the wall, afraid of this side of me. I tried to escape myself, but that wasn't really possible. I whimpered, shaking my head. My instincts told me that if I went for the exit, I would be the one torn to pieces.

The man chuckled. "Pleased to meet you, Sylvia and Kristi. My name is Riley. You are one of us now."

"Us?" I asked with confusion and apprehension. It didn't sound like a good thing. I noticed my voice was just as melodious as theirs- was I beautiful as well? I tried to remember how I had gotten here, but all my memories before the pain were murky and unclear.

"You are stronger, faster, smarter, and have better senses than before. You are practically indestructible except by others of our kind." Riley continued. "Try not to destroy any others of us. When you hunt, be back before the sun rises or you will burn to ashes."

What on earth was going on? Did the fire change me? Was I dead? Why did my throat burn if I was dead?

"What did you do to us?" I snarled out of anger and fear, getting into a crouch again. I heard Sylvia beside me, growling under her breath.

He looked at us, his red eyes boring into ours. "We are vampires. You live with us now. The sun just set, and you can run around the island until I get you. Then you can hunt."

I would have started laughing if he wasn't so deadly serious and if I wasn't so terrified. Had I been kidnapped with Sylvia? I struggled to remember, pulling up a vague memory of taking a wrong turn on a walk, then nothing, blackness. I must have been knocked out.

And then the pain began, starting on my neck and slowly spreading throughout my whole body.

He left the room through a door on the right.

"Wait-" I cried, but he was gone. Why had he left? Almost as if he didn't care about us. That didn't make sense, after he had gone through the trouble of being there when we awoke and saying something so ridiculous. He could only be so careless if he had already done this multiple times, implying a bunch of people had heard this and believed him.

I went to the door, barely even thinking about the motion before it happened. What a weird, painful dream. Of course this wasn't actually happening. My memories from before were fuzzy because they weren't real, and neither was this. Of course.

I looked through the door, where a staircase sloped upwards. Although Riley had left the room less than half a second ago, he was not on the stairs. I turned back to Sylvia. She flickered and was suddenly in front of me, no longer several feet away on the floor.

"Kristi?" Sylvia sounded scared and confused as well.

I shook my head, confused. "This must be a dream. Let's do what the beautiful man says for now."

Sylvia looked around and took a deep breath through her nose, marveling in the new senses. She touched the floor, the walls, her clothes, and looked around the room. She put her ear to the floor.

"Vampires? No, we're just…" she trailed off. "I don't really remember. But sure, let's do that." She turned and disappeared up the stairs. Almost literally disappeared. I followed her after a second and caught up to her easily. At the top of the stairs was what looked like a living room, but it was dark, and all the windows were shuttered. I was again amazed by the detail in this weird dream- dust, cobwebs, threads in the faded fabric of the couches- it was all clear and defined. The smells told me almost as much as my sight did, mold, mildew, dust, the same sweet smell. Outside, I heard growlings and the soft, quick thuds of running vampire feet.

I followed Sylvia outside. We were on a small island, with a few trees and a pebbled beach in front of the house. Fifty yards in front of the house, three beautiful people were fighting, charging each other hard enough they should break bones, but all that happened was the loud _crash_ of stone hitting stone. Two of the people tackled the other, and I heard snapping and cracking noises. They stepped away and all that was left of the third was a pillar of fire where I could make out pale body parts. Thick purplish smoke and a sickeningly sweet smell came from it. Definitely a nightmare. I hissed and crouched again.

Riley appeared from behind the house, drawn by the smell. The two vampires who had burned the third fled, the first running, the second leaping fifty feet up into a huge pine tree.

"Let's get out of here," I suggested to Sylvia. She nodded and leapt up into a different tree. I followed her, amazed by how far my jump took me. I landed lightly on the branch above Sylvia, the rough bark feeling soft as velvet and the needles soft as feathers, and we began to climb. We darted up the trunk as if we had been squirrels our whole lives, but we were faster, more graceful. It was simply instinctive. We reached the top and winced as we heard Riley yelling at the two vampires- it sounded like their names were Raoul and Kevin. Even though we were a hundred feet above him, we could hear his yelling loud and clear, and I got the feeling we would still understand every word if he simply spoke in a normal tone of voice. As we watched, we saw one of the vampire's arms torn off, with a cracking, snapping noise like breaking stone. After a minute Riley calmed down a little and gave him back the arm. We watched him lick the end of it and stick it back to his torso. I shivered, and realized it was the first movement I had made in several minutes. I had no trouble staying still as a stone in the tree.

I hadn't even been a vampire for an hour and I'd already seen one die. The thought scared me, Riley had said it was hard to kill us, and just happened, right before my eyes. I decided it was a good idea to stay away from Raoul and Kevin- and probably all other vampires in general. Sylvia turned to me. "Wasn't there something we were supposed to do?"

As soon as she mentioned it, I remembered. My throat burned as if it were on fire. "Hunting." I agreed. "But I don't trust him." I continued, jerking my head towards the raging Riley.

"I don't care. My throat burns." Sylvia whimpered, and I had to agree with her. We dropped from the tree, landing lightly on our feet, almost silently to our enhanced hearing. We cautiously approached Riley and another vampire next to him.

"Kristi, Sylvia, this is Diego. He's one of the oldest here, he'll show you how to hunt. Be back before the sun rises or you will burn. Stay unseen- we don't want the humans to figure out we exist. Hunting is easy- just use your instincts, but also use your common sense… unlike some others I know here." Riley glared in the direction of the flames and the vampires watching before vanishing back to who knows where.

I eyed the new vampire, and decided he most likely wouldn't attack. "This might be the weirdest dream I've ever had." I commented. Diego smiled darkly at me. He was also beautiful, in his teens, but his eyes were dark.

"Oh, this isn't a dream." he said. "You'll never wake from it, or ever fall asleep again,for that matter." He motioned for us to follow him and turned, though he kept glancing back at us as if we were about to attack him. For all he knew, we could be. Or he could attack us.

He stepped into the water and turned to face us. "You don't need to breathe, but it is uncomfortable not being able to smell. Follow me." He dove into the water, swimming almost as quickly as running. It should have been frigid, but it felt comfortably warm. We followed him, finding our eyes worked fine underwater, and we didn't need to breathe. After taking a deep breath and waiting, the panic that I associated with running out of oxygen in my lungs never came.

We emerged on the edge a city- Seattle, probably. My hometown, before this weird possibly-not-a-dream.

"Do what I do." Diego whispered. "Follow me. Stay unseen." We did so as he leapt onto a rooftop and ran lightly across it. I looked around, trying to figure out where I was. Unfortunately, this was an unfamiliar part of the city to me. Diego stopped on the edge of one of the rooftops and we stopped as well. It was mostly silent, I could hear our breathing, gentle waves lapping against the shore, and cars on a farther street. Then another sound registered to my ears- heartbeats. Two of them, pumping blood, blood that would soothe my throat. My throat burned with wave of dryness and heat. I _wanted_ that blood. I looked at Diego, who gestured to two people asleep in the dark alley.

"See them? That's who we want. People who won't be noticed missing." I took a step back, repulsed for an eighth of a second. We were going to kill people? We were actual vampires, drinking their blood? Was this life worth it? Even for a dream, this was bad. And then I smelled them.

The smell set my throat again on fire. Their hearts pumped blood through their bodies, promising a wetness that would quench the thirst. My instincts took over and I landed on the ground a sixteenth of a second before Sylvia and sank my teeth into the first person's neck. The blood felt good against my throat, and tasted good too. I slurped it up, and nothing else mattered. I finished, but my throat still burned. I had to have more. I growled and lunged at the lifeless body Sylvia held. She growled back at me, and we circled each other, prepared to fight for the remaining blood. Diego landed behind us. We turned, wary of the more experienced hunter.

"Guys, remember, we're not trying to attack each other. Use your common sense. There is more blood in this city than this."

I calmed down and Sylvia finished. After she did, Diego took out a lighter. I shrank back, afraid of him. Was he going to set us on fire? Another feral snarl slid through my teeth.

"Relax, I'm just cleaning up evidence. Remember?" He picked up the bodies and tossed them effortlessly into a corner and set the pile on fire.

"You must still be thirsty. You're newborns, after all. Follow me." We leapt back up onto the rooftop and ran into the night.

A few hours later we swam back to the island. My throat still burned, but the feeling was muted a little. Diego told us it would get better once we got older.

The sun was going to rise in a couple of hours, but only our enhanced vision allowed us to know that. To a human it still looked pitch black. Before we went into the house, Diego turned to look at us.

"We live all day in the basement. Use your common sense, stay out of trouble, and you might make it through your first day."

Was it hard to make it through your first day? Were people like Raoul and Kevin going to try to burn us? Were all days hard, or just the first in particular?

Sylvia and I nodded then followed him down a different set of stairs than we had come up through when we had awoken from the pain. In the basement, there were laptops, games, movies, books- all the things you needed to keep you average modern vampire occupied during the day. I suppose we really couldn't sleep, like vampires are supposed to do in coffins during the day. Many of the games were broken, with shattered glass and massive dents in the metal. Sylvia immediately went over to a mirror. That part of vampire superstitions must be false as well. I sighed and followed her. There was safety in numbers, after all, and it was probably better to stick with someone who knew you well enough they might not kill you when they were given an opportunity. She gasped when she saw her reflection. I saw my own reflection and marveled at it. I _was_ beautiful like everyone else. I usually didn't care what I looked like, but this was impressive. My skin was white- not in a sickly way, but a beautiful way. My blonde hair was still in its ponytail almost to my waist. I looked graceful, statuesque. My eyes burned crimson as I stared at them. Who had done this to me? I had killed someone. I was a monster. I felt the rage take over, clouding my mind. Where was Riley? I looked around. Sylvia noticed my expression and sank into a crouch of her own, snarling. Would this come to a fight? This was my best friend. That thought combined with the self-preservation let me calm down enough to turn away. What was wrong with my head?

I went and started to play one of the games. I kept getting stuck on one level and I pounded it in frustration. The metal caved inward under my fist, the screen flickered and went black. No wonder so few of the games worked. I decided I would occupy myself some other way, grabbing a book off a shelf and sitting in a corner. It lasted me a few hours, and when I looked up, I noticed the room was filled with beautiful vampires. I had noticed with some other part of my brain as they all came in- my self-preservation instinct keeping tabs on all of them. Sylvia was reading a book next to me. She wasn't as much of a book person- vampire- but she also seemed keen to keep out of trouble. I got to my feet and darted to the bookshelf, picking another book. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the one who had been making trouble earlier, Raoul, approach the bookshelf as well. I hissed at him and slowly backed away. He eyed me and decided I wasn't worth a fight yet. "Newborn." he muttered. I flitted back to my corner with Sylvia and began to read my book, though I didn't pay much attention to it, simply watching for danger.

A few hours later- I think, there was no way to keep track of time here- a fight broke out. Raoul and a girl started growling at each other darting and lunging. He had a hand torn off, she got a foot torn off. Riley came into the room a couple minutes later.

"Raoul! Kristie! Quit it!" he snarled. I looked around, bewildered, and realized the girl had the same name as me. Huh. I wondered if that would help me live longer or ensure my early demise. Riley was in a rage again, and I wanted to fight him, but my self-preservation instincts won. I had never been a very confrontational sort of person, I was skilled at being unnoticed, seeing but not being seen. I stayed in the corner, thinking _don't look at me, don't look at me._ He yelled at each person he laid eyes on for a few minutes, eyes sweeping the room. He looked directly at me several times but didn't notice me or something. There was one area of the room he didn't look at at all, and when I looked there I immediately looked back again, repulsed. That corner couldn't mean anything good.

Soon the fight was dissolved and we were let outside again. I was given permission to hunt and was sent off with another older newborn, named Caleb, and two other young newborns. Sylvia was sent with another group. My throat burned, and I had the feeling that it was probably a good thing we weren't together. I didn't want to fight with her again.

We found someone in another dark alley, but I recognized the problem- four vampires, one human. One of them, I think her name was Sara, spotted him first. She turned and snarled at us, and I lunged at her, desperate for a meal. She was more experienced than I was, and tore off my arm at the elbow, flinging it away across the rooftop. I scampered after it, unsure what to do. Did I just lick it? Maybe the vampire venom or something helped it reattach. It did. I experimented, bending my elbow back and forth. No permanent harm done.

I realized I might get in more trouble if I went back for the person. Better to find different prey. I followed Caleb's scent, because Riley wanted us to stick together. Soon, I found three people, and no other vampires nearby. Lucky me. I leapt down and finished them, then, full, caught up to Caleb. I found him with his prey, and he snarled at me to stay back. I got the message and waited. After he set his bodies on fire, he came back with me and set mine on fire. We had both drank plenty, so we went back to the island. I spent the time experimenting with my new abilities. I wasn't bothered by my change, if I tried to remember what my life had been like before, it gave me a headache. Or it least it would have if vampires could get headaches. I ran, jumped, climbed, and experimented with my strength. I jumped up, jumped across, and even tried jumping from treetop to treetop. It was all easy. I came across the scent of a vampire and decided to follow it, just to see if I could. Following Caleb had been easy, he hadn't gone far and had gone in a straight line across the rooftops.

The new scent wove through the trees, and it hadn't gone as far as I expected it to. Of course, just my luck, it turned out to be Kevin's scent. He and Sara were fighting. Kevin backed off once she tore off a finger, and she spotted me. She must have remembered the rooftop incident and she charged me. I fled, darting between the trees, and she followed. I leapt into a nearby pine and jumped to another tree, hoping I had lost her, but sure my hoping was in vain. She looked around, confused, then sniffed the air. Surely she should be able to smell me from here? But she didn't. She looked around, combing the treetops for a glimpse of me. She passed over my hiding spot in the fork of two branches several times, then turned around and returned to the clearing.

I was confused. That was the second time someone looking for me had inexplicably been unable to find me. Was it luck? I cautiously got down from the tree. I stood where she had stood, trying to find me. I could clearly smell the trail my scent had left going up the tree. Was there something wrong with her nose?

I came across Sylvia's scent, fresh. She must have returned from hunting. I followed it, continuing to avoid attention. I found her and called her name. She snarled and whipped her head around to look at me, in a crouch ready to fight. Then she noticed it was me.

"How did you get there? I didn't hear you or smell you or anything. But I can smell you now. It must have been the wind." she decided. "Sorry I tried to attack you. Funny thing happened, I was hunting with Kevin… you know him, the one who torched someone on our first day. I got into a massive fight with him, there were two humans but he wanted them both or something. He tore off my arm and leg, I tore off his ear. He was pretty mad, still raging when we got back. Then he suddenly stopped, and looked at me like he hadn't noticed I was there before. He looked confused, like he didn't know how he got there. I ran away… but I saw him start a fight with Sara a few minutes ago."

"Huh. Sara tore off Kevin's finger then went after me cuz I got in a fight with her earlier. I ran up a tree and she couldn't find me. She looked straight at me a few times, and she couldn't see me or smell me." I replied. Another vampire came into view and I shrank back against the pine.

"Kristi?" Sylvia asked. "It's not anyone we really know… where are you?" Again, her eyes passed over me several times and she sniffed the air. I was right in front of her, was she blind? I relaxed when the other vampire was out of sight. Sylvia yelped and leapt at me. I snarled back at her. "What are you doing?"

She skittered away from me. "Sorry, sorry! You just appeared out of nowhere. Your scent, too."

"Really? I wasn't up the tree or anything this time, I was right here. Like what happened with Sara."

"Maybe… I wonder if vampires can turn invisible. Try to do it again." she said curiously. I tried, but nothing happened. Sylvia could obviously see me.

"I don't know how." I said with frustration. "I don't think it's a conscious thing."

Sylvia frowned. "Maybe not…" she froze, sniffing the air. "I smell Riley coming."

I shrank back, striving to be part of the background, and hoped he would be in a good mood when he saw us.

"Hah!" Sylvia cried triumphantly. "I don't see or smell you."

I took a step forward. "Very funny. Is Riley here yet? Keep it down." She acted like she hadn't heard me, taking slow steps forwards and waving her hands around to feel for me. I stepped back and jumped into the tree.

Sylvia continued to look around. "Um, Kristi? Wherever you are, if you're still here… sorry, Riley isn't actually here." I relaxed and came down from the tree. "What did you do that for?" I asked, a little annoyed.

"I wanted to see if you could do it again unconsciously. Apparently you can. Your scent vanished, I couldn't hear or smell you. But now I can, from here I can smell where you sat in the tree." She leapt lightly onto the branch I had been perched on thirty seconds ago. "What were you thinking when I told you Riley was coming?"

"Um, I panicked, and tried just to be unnoticed, blend into the background… the sort of thing that I could do as a human, keep quiet and have others not notice I exist."

"Try again. Maybe you can figure it out now." she encouraged. I willed myself to blend in, be unnoticed. Sylvia blinked at me.

"There. You just vanished. I could smell you and hear your breathing a moment ago, and now they're both gone."

I relaxed. "Awesome. Maybe this will help keep me safer when I'm hunting… Nobody can fight me if they can't sense me in any way." I grinned at the possibilities this opened up. "You try. I wonder if it's just me or if all vampires can do this."

"If all vampires could do this, I think we'd notice."

"No, we wouldn't, because we wouldn't see, smell, or hear them. They would be _unnoticeable._ "

Sylvia laughed. "True. Here goes nothing." she concentrated for a moment and I watched curiously. Nothing happened, and I told her so. At that moment, Riley really did walk into the clearing. I vanished again automatically, and Riley frowned in my direction.

"I swear I just saw Kristi…" he muttered. Then realization dawned on his face and he ran back in the direction he came. What had he figured out?

"Uh-oh." I said.

"He wasn't supposed to see that… maybe he knows something about it. Let's follow him." Sylvia suggested. Riley scared me, but I agreed it would be good to know more. I sprinted after her, going as quickly as I could to catch up to them.

"Riley! Wait!" Sylvia yelled. Riley stopped and turned to face us.

"Hello, Kristi, Sylvia." he said. How did he remember everyone's names? Maybe vampires have perfect memory. Cool.

"Why did you run away after you saw us?" I asked cautiously. Luckily, he didn't get mad.

"Were you doing something when I came in, Kristi? Hiding, somehow? Do you think you could do it again?" he asked. I sighed internally. He had seen right through me- both literally and figuratively. I vanished. He looked around, sniffed the air, and nodded slowly.

"Okay, come back." I did, and he got a look on his face- he was thinking about the possibilities of my new ability as well. I didn't think I liked that.

"Why can she do that?" Sylvia demanded. Riley was thoughtful for another moment.

"Some vampires have special abilities beyond the ordinary, nobody is sure why. It's fairly rare, about one in fifty of us have one. All these talents are unique, I've heard of vampires that can read minds, see the future, torture people… you get the picture. I've only noticed one other in our group with one, his name is Fred, mostly he's referred to as Freaky Fred. He has this aura that repulses people… I wish I knew more, we could use his talent to our advantage. Don't tell anyone else, we don't want them trying things. And please try to keep safe, we wouldn't want to lose a talent like yours." When he saw we had nothing to say, he turned and continued to run.

"I really don't like how he looked at you." Sylvia said. "Like you were a something he could use instead of an actual person. There must be something coming, we must have been changed for a reason. Maybe he left because he's going to tell _her_!"

We didn't know much about _her,_ but whenever _she_ was mentioned, the other vampires seemed afraid. Apparently _she_ was the one who created us, and her identity was kept secret to protect us.

Sylvia sighed in frustration. "I wish he would just forget about it! The whole point was to stay unnoticed, not draw more attention!"

"I don't think he'll forget." I agreed unhappily. "I think vampires have perfect memories, and even if they don't, this is kind of important. Let's head back."

"Sure, but not back to the basement yet. We still have about an hour before the sun even comes close to rising."


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm terrible at chapter breaks, so this one is kind of long. Let me know in the reviews if you think I'm going too fast or anything!**

When we got back to the basement, two vampires were already fighting. Of course. I went to our corner and became invisible, Sylvia close behind me.

"Could you please not do that unless we're actually in danger? I don't like not knowing where you are, or looking like I'm alone." she whispered. Although most of the room could hear her, most of the attention was on the fight. No heads turned our way.

"All right." I agreed, forgetting she couldn't hear my reply. I made sure nobody was watching, then I came back.

The day passed slowly. I felt like everyone was looking at me all the time, and I wanted to become invisible. I reminded myself nobody knew what I could do, and it was all in my head. I glanced a couple times at Fred's corner, but quickly gave up.

"I'll be gone for a minute." I whispered to Sylvia. "I want to see if I can see Fred."

She nodded her head a millimeter without looking up from the book she was reading. Our conversations were at a volume so low no human could hear them, and vampires wouldn't be able to hear from more than a few feet away. We barely did more than mouth the words.

I vanished. Fred was still as repulsive as ever.

A few hours later Riley checked in with us. I wondered where he went during the day. Probably some other room in the house away from all of us. I made sure to stay visible while he was there, but I kept itching to hide. Funny how dependent I was on something I didn't know I had twelve hours ago. Riley didn't pay any attention to me or Sylvia, nothing that suggested anything was out of the ordinary… besides the fact it was a room full of vampires. I had noticed that most of us tended to let our emotions and instincts take over, and Riley must have been going crazy with curiosity about me. He must be a really good actor. Sylvia noticed too.

"Did he forget about you?" she whispered. "He's only looked at us twice, and he barely noticed we were here. You stayed visible the whole time." She concentrated for a moment. "Nope, he doesn't remember. Amazing. He didn't tell _her_ either."

I frowned. "How do you know that?" I mouthed back at her.

"He has no memories of you or telling _her_ about you. He stopped in the woods somewhere and came back here."

"How do you know that?" I repeated.

"His memories...Oh!" she exclaimed in a normal tone of voice. A few people glanced at us. "Sorry. I just realized I'm talented too. I can see his memories and change them… I just did instinctively earlier. I made him forget us, so he had no reason to go to _her_ , so he has no memories of going to _her_ because he didn't go after all!"

"Really?" I said, impressed.

"Yes… I did it earlier, too. Remember how I told you about Kevin getting confused? I must have made him forget our fight… and everything afterwards too."

"Brilliant." I whispered. "Can you see any and all of everyone's memories?"

"Yes, I think so. Ooh, should I see what _she_ looks like?"

"Don't." I said quickly. "There must be a good reason we don't know her. If it is for our protection… well, I personally like protection."

"Fine." she agreed. "But don't you want to know more?"

"Yes but no."

"Fine."

Sylvia concentrated for another minute. "Yowch."

"What is it?"

"Just looking at Sara's memories of your fight. While you fought her, your other group member went and took the person. No wonder she's upset. Where did you go?"

"Caleb had the sense to look somewhere else, so I followed him after I lost. I found three people at once! It was nice, I didn't have to fight anyone for them."

She concentrated again. "What now?" I asked.

"I'm looking at your memories."

"Stop, that's just weird." I said with a shudder.

"Your memories just disappeared." she replied.

"You erased something?" I said angrily. I got into a crouch, ready to leap at her.

"No, no. I meant I can't see your mind or any of your memories. Like when you disappear, it's like you don't exist."

I calmed down. "Okay. But just say so next time, I was about to snap your arm off for that."

A couple people were looking at us warily.

"Um, can you make them forget that?" I mouthed.

She nodded, her eyes unfocused. "Nobody in this room besides us remembers our conversation." she said after a moment. The people looking at us looked away, blank expressions on their faces.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, though I was impatient to get outside and hunt. I was thirsty, and eager to test my new skills. Soon the sun set, and Riley allowed people to go out. As Sylvia and I were only a few days old, we were allowed out every night. We got assigned to a group with two others from Raoul's gang. I didn't know either of them, and they didn't know or care about us, but that could change once blood was scented. After swimming to Seattle, we followed them for a mile before Sylvia and I split off. Two people, they looked homeless, were smoking on the corner of two empty streets. We were surrounded by old, abandoned buildings. Perfect.

"Watch me." I whispered to Sylvia. Then I reconsidered my sentence. "No, watch this. Don't watch me, you won't see me." I disappeared, then took a deep breath. We were about to see if my talents worked on humans. I leapt off the roof and landed in front of the two people, who continued to be oblivious. I grinned, and bashed one on the head. He fell to the ground, unconscious. The other looked around wildly, confused. My jaws closed around his neck and I reappeared. Sylvia clapped appreciatively then leapt down and took the other person. When we both had finished, I thought about getting rid of the bodies.

"Do you have a lighter?" I asked Sylvia.

She frowned. "No. I think Riley gives them to you when you are a month old. You can't let babies play with fire, after all."

I chuckled. "Okay. Why don't we hide these in one of the buildings? I don't think anyone's been here in the last ten years or will be here for another ten years."

"Sure, that'll work." She scooped up her body and we went through the abandoned buildings. Once upon a time I would have been scared half to death, but now nothing could possibly hurt me but other vampires, and I would smell them coming. Soon we found an old warehouse with boxes so old I wouldn't have been surprised if the dust was several inches thick on top of them. We dug into the back of a large stack and hid the bodies inside some boxes full of what must have been human food once. The smell was terrible to my new and improved nose and I held my breath the entire time. We came out of the building and lucked into two more people crossing the street.

"My turn. Watch me." Sylvia whispered. She walked up to them and they gaped at her. She was probably the most beautiful person they had ever seen. They looked at her in confusion and she knocked out the first person. The second started to run, but Sylvia didn't chase him, just concentrated. The person came to a stop, looked bewildered, and turned around. Sylvia sprang, and I leapt at the unconscious person. We buried them in the boxes with the other two.

We continued to take turns hunting for the rest of the night, careful not to spill blood too soon so we wouldn't fight for it. If there was an odd number of people, the hunter would get the extra. A few hours later, the burn in my throat had all but disappeared.

Sylvia sighed in contentment. "Now what? I'm completely full."

I looked around. I spotted a dark store a couple streets away. "Why don't we go raid for more stuff to do back home?"

"Sure, but we need to be back before dawn. And I could use some new clothes."

I looked at us. Both our clothes were fairly torn up from our climbing, running, hunting, etc.

"Yup, but we don't need them as badly as we would if we were human." I pointed out.

Sylvia wrinkled her nose. "Agreed. I would be disgusting right now." With that, we leapt across the street and onto the roof of the store. There was a metal door that needed to be opened with a key. I punched a hole through the middle and opened it from the inside. Problem solved. We went downstairs and found ourselves in a storage room. We looked and found what we wanted- books, movies, clothes. I got myself a laptop as well, though it wouldn't do much besides play the movies without internet access. We climbed up to the roof, but Sylvia hesitated.

"Shouldn't we pay for this?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Sylvia, you are an amazing and kindhearted person. Firstly, we don't have any money. Secondly, we killed and drank the blood of at least ten people together tonight, and you're worried about stealing clothes and a bit of entertainment from a store?"

She blinked and laughed. "Sorry. I see your point. I guess I didn't think about it that way because the whole blood-drinking thing is so natural now. Let's go."

We arrived at the island with plenty of time to spare, and spent the rest of the night outside. We got into a fight- intentionally, for practice, because we couldn't trust anyone else to give us experience without attempting to burn whatever body part got torn off. After a few minutes, I smelled another vampire. "Riley." I announced.

Sylvia quickly straightened out of her crouch and the snarl disappeared from her face. If Riley thought we were actually fighting, nothing good could come from it. We darted into the basement and spent the rest of the day trying to look inconspicuous.

Two months passed normally- if you count an average of one burnt vampire per week normal. A couple others, Shelly and Steve, didn't come back from hunting one night. The next day Riley told us the sun had burned them to a crisp- he had found their piles of ashes. I was even more careful about getting home on time after that. Sylvia and I made the one-month mark, although nobody noticed but Riley, who let us carry lighters while we hunted.

I got back from hunting one night and found a couple new faces waiting for us. Their eyes were bright red, brighter than the rest of ours, and they kept staring at all of us, without knowing yet they were supposed to be afraid. Raoul made sure they knew.

"Who are you? Shelly and Steve's replacements? They got burned to a crisp. Or are you Sue and Jack's replacements? They got burned too… but not by the sun. Be careful and stay out of the way."

One of the new kids got mad and sprang at Raoul, who, of course, had months of experience and much more friends. Soon there were two identical fires on the floor. I snarled under my breath at the unfairness of it all. These kids just got a new life, and it was over before they even knew what it was all about. Unfortunately, my snarl was quite audible to vampire ears. Raoul turned, and he must not have had a good night hunting or something, because he came for me.

"You want to join them?" he asked me. I shook my head, realizing my mistake. Where was Sylvia and her memory modification when I needed it? Raoul grabbed my arm. Invisibility wouldn't help me now, it would only give away my secret talent. I snarled and tried to pull away, but he just grabbed my other arm and tore it off. I hissed at the pain and tugged harder. Raoul pushed me towards the flames. I felt the heat against my skin and dug my heels into the ground. Raoul's friends made a circle around us and the fire and laughed as my attempts did nothing but make little furrows in the basement floor. The flames danced menacingly, the purplish smoke billowing up into my face. I tugged harder, using all my strength. Raoul was older and not as strong as me, but one of his friends came to assist him. I growled in frustration and fear and they only laughed harder. One had retrieved my arm and was waving it around. I tried to tear his head off with it, but he held it away from his body. I was trapped, there was no way I could possibly get out. Neither Sylvia or Riley were here to save me. My second life was about to end.

Raoul lifted me up and held me by the fire. "The third one today." he said cheerfully. "What was your name? Oh yeah, you had a name just like that other girl's. Goodbye, Kristie."

I was suddenly knocked flying. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the flames licking my body. I realized the angle was wrong, and there was no way I could land in the fire. I opened my eyes and hit the wall, making a small section of it collapse and cave in, but I barely noticed, I was so surprised by what I saw.

Raoul was pinned to the floor by another vampire. They wrestled for a few seconds, snarling and snapping at each other's throats. The vampire snapped off one of Raoul's hands and tossed it towards the fire, releasing him at the same time. Raoul dove after his hand and the vampire grabbed my arm from Raoul's friend. After tossing it to me he settled into a defensive position and I finally recognized his face.

It was Caleb, the vampire I'd gone hunting with on my second day, the one I had followed after Sara tore my arm off.

Raoul and his friends growled uncertainly. Nobody had tried to stand up to them this way before, especially not to save another vampire. They looked at Raoul for instructions, but he was busy reattaching his hand.

"Stay outside until Riley gets back." Caleb snarled at me. I didn't argue, just fled up the stairs. The sun would rise in a couple of hours, but Riley was always back before then, so I wasn't too worried about that part. I scampered up a tree and perched at the very top. If Raoul and his friends killed Caleb, they would come after me next. I went invisible. After a few minutes where my heart would have been racing if my heart could still beat, someone came out of the house. I sighed in relief when I realized it was Caleb. He was sniffing the air, looking for something… looking for me. Was that good or bad? What if all he wanted was to get me himself? Had Raoul convinced him to come get me? I would have to come down from this tree sooner or later, although at most later was less than two hours away.

Caleb continued to sniff the air. I looked closely at his face, trying to figure out what he was after. I hadn't paid much attention to him in particular before. He had dark hair, he was tallish, and thin, with red eyes darker than mine, white skin, and he was beautiful like the rest of us. He was someone I might have found good-looking even before he was a vampire, if I had really cared about that sort of thing.

I looked closer at his face. His expression was concerned and a little afraid, or worried. I decided to let him find me. If he was going to attack me, I could always disappear again now that we were alone. It would be easier for Sylvia to erase one memory rather than fifteen, though she might have to do it anyway if I was going to live to see another night..

I cautiously made myself visible, smellable, and hearable again. Caleb's head snapped up and he saw me immediately. He cautiously approached the tree.

"Kristi?" he called softly. "Is it alright if I come up or would you prefer I stayed down here?"

I swallowed nervously. Was he trying to trick me or was he genuinely asking permission?

"You can come up." I called back to the ground. He started slowly up the tree, making no sudden movements, as if I was an animal that could either be scared away or attack him. In a way, I was. He reached the branch I was on, and perched lightly on it several feet away from me. He made no attempt to climb above me, which made me feel a little better. We eyed each other for a few seconds to make sure neither was about to attack. We both relaxed a little.

"Are you alright?" he asked me.

"All in one piece. And you?" I replied warily.

"The same. Just so you know, I won't attack you up here."

I looked at him suspiciously. "I won't attack you unless you attack first… probably."

He snorted. "Well, that's encouraging." he said, but he did seem to relax a little more.

"Why are you here?" I asked. "Why did you save me?"

He looked at me, carefully considering his answer. "Well… I noticed you are different from some of the others. You and your friend… Sylvia, right? Anyway, I noticed you didn't go around burning people for the fun of it like most do here. You are fairly clear-headed for a newborn. How old are you?"

"A little over two months." I replied. "And you?"

"Five months. I'm lucky I lived this long. I stayed out of the way, kept my head down. You did too, but not like you were submissive to them. Just smart enough to keep out of trouble. And I noticed you actually think before you do things. For example, loads of people here leave bodies lying around, or just burn them. You actually take the time to hide them."

I was flattered he had actually noticed. I had hunted in his group three times, total. He hadn't paid any special attention to me then.

"Well…" I stammered, "it's just common sense. I've seen the newspapers, the humans have noticed us, but they don't know we're vampires. Riley always gets really mad when he sees the newspaper, and I figured I didn't want to give him a reason to tear my arm off. Back when I was human, I always thought about things for a while before doing them. It probably helps now."

"That's my point." Caleb agreed. "You use common sense. Most people here are too intoxicated by their abilities and thirst to care. You're smart."

I blinked. "Are you smart?"

He grinned. "I hope so. I had enough brains to notice you, didn't I? Where did you and your friend come from?"

I frowned. This was human stuff, something practically never mentioned. "Um, I guess I was walking home with Sylvia from a movie. She said there was this restaurant she wanted to go to and we tried walking there, but got lost. I remember I was knocked out, felt the pain, and woke up a few days later."

Caleb nodded. "So you were more of a normal person than some gang member or homeless child?"

"Yep. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or the right place at the right time. Depends on your perspective. Why? Where are you from?"

He shrugged. "I had a fairly normal life too, then my parents started fighting. I ran away, and Riley found me."

I realized I was completely relaxed. He had not tried to attack me once, and he seemed decent for a vampire. Someone who actually cared, like Sylvia.

"Now what?" I asked. "The sun will rise soon. We can't go back down there."

"Riley will get here soon. And if he doesn't, I'll go back with you."

I felt a strange thrill when he said that. Was it fear, or something else?

"How do I know you won't attack me?" I asked.

"Well, put it this way. If you go down alone, Raoul will get you. If you're with me, I could get you and hand you to Raoul, or I could protect you."

"Fair point." I agreed. "Wait… here comes Sylvia. Problem solved." I called her name softly, and she heard me. She scampered up the tree and joined me.

"Hey Kristi, what's going on up here?" Then she noticed Caleb. She got into a crouch and growled at him.

"It's okay!" I told her. "He's not going to attack us, I think. But I need your help."

"What?"

I closed my eyes in reply. I felt nothing as she went through my memories of the past hour.

"Long story short, Raoul attacked me, Caleb saved me." I said. "But there will be a mess to clean up."

"Uh-huh. Sure, I don't want to be on his hit list for being friends with you. Gimme a sec." She jumped out of the tree, landed lightly on her feet, and sprinted to the house. She reappeared in the tree a couple minutes later. "Coast is clear." she reported.

"Thanks, I owe you big." I said gratefully.

"What was that about?" Caleb asked with confusion.

Sylvia looked at him for a moment, then got a confused look on her face.

"How did I get here?" she asked. I stared at her.

"You came back from hunting, came up the tree, went into the house, and came back up the tree." Caleb said. I stared at him. I closed my eyes again in invitation. Sylvia exclaimed "Oh!... So, why did I not know that? And why does he?"

Caleb still looked confused.

"Let me try again." Sylvia muttered. Her face went blank. "How did I get here?"

Caleb sighed. "I didn't know vampires could have memory loss. You got back from hunting, came up here, went to the house, and came back."

I nodded in confirmation. Sylvia looked at me again- reading my memories.

"Umm… So, I failed twice and it backfired?" she checked.

"Yep. Is it you or him?" I asked. "Test on me. Do something."

"You want me to move or something?"

"Sure."

Sylvia jumped down and ran around the tree. She climbed back up.

"Do it now, last ten seconds or so." I said.

She nodded.

Sylvia was suddenly in a different spot on the tree.

"C'mon, you can do something better than that." I said. "Don't just shift positions."

"I didn't. I jumped down and ran around the tree. Caleb?"

Caleb still looked confused. "Are you speaking in some sort of code? Yes, she ran around the tree about fifteen seconds ago."

"You did? No way. How did you believe me when I told you what you did?" I asked Sylvia.

"I see you. Remember? No pun intended." she replied.

"True…" I agreed. "So, you're the problem." I said to Caleb. He backed away, defensive.

"What did I do?" he demanded.

"Calm down." I said carefully. "That's what we're trying to figure out right now. Just listen, and we'll tell you everything."

"Okay." he agreed reluctantly.

"So, it started my second night, the first time I was hunting in a group with you, actually." I began. "When we found the one human, I got into a fight with Sara. She won, but while we fought apparently our other group member took the person, so she got pretty mad at me. Somewhere else, Sylvia got into a fight with Kevin. We got back at different times, and Sara fought Kevin. Sara beat Kevin and found me, so I ran for it. I jumped into a tree and suddenly she couldn't find me. I went to find Sylvia, we figured out I had this talent, and we told Riley. He told us some vampires have special abilities, like mind reading or telling the future or torturing people. He said Freaky Fred could repulse people. I can turn invisible, so nobody can see me, smell me, or hear me. Then I think Riley went to tell _her._ " I shuddered. "You following so far?"

"I think so…" Caleb replied slowly. "Is that why your scent suddenly appeared when I found you in this tree?"

"Exactly. Anyway, I didn't like the way he looked at me, like I was a tool or something. He acted like he cared about me, but he didn't before. He just liked me because I was special. Sylvia got upset and somehow he forgot about it. We figured out Sylvia was special too, she can see people's memories and erase them if she wants. Sylvia checked, and Riley never did make it to _her_ or even remember our conversation. So he's clueless, and we're ordinary vampires to him. Sylvia's been helping keep us out of trouble by making them simply forget about us. When she was in the house a couple minutes ago, she made everyone forget Raoul attacked and you saved me. It's safe to go back. Right?" I checked with Sylvia.

"I think so. I don't remember." she said.

"Which is where you come in." I continued. "Sylvia tried to make you forget she was there and had done anything odd, because you were getting suspicious. But it erased her memories of what happened instead, and your memory is perfectly fine." I finished.

Caleb nodded slowly. "I think I got it. But why would Riley care if you were talented? Why would _she_ care?"

He stumped me. "I have no idea. He didn't care about us before, and he doesn't care now that he's forgotten. We must have been created for some reason, he can't have just gotten a bunch of us for the sake of having us when he doesn't care about us."

Caleb frowned. "Okay, that is weird. But the sun is going to rise soon, and you said the coast was clear earlier, so let's head back. We can figure this out later… Sylvia said they don't know I have anything to do with you, so we'll act normal. I'll see you tonight, why don't the three of us go hunting?"

Caleb grinned. "I'd like that. I think I can ditch my group, it's not like Riley keeps track. First one to the old park leaves a trail?" he suggested.

"Sure." Sylvia agreed. "Our first meeting of the super-secret talented spy club."

"Remember, we don't know you." I said to Caleb. "You know nothing about talented vampires or that Riley is doing anything suspicious."

He nodded. "I can do that. Why doesn't Sylvia go first in case she didn't actually brainwash everyone? All those in favor say aye."

"Aye. You first, Sylvia." We dropped to the ground and went through the front door. We stayed at the top steps while Sylvia investigated. She came back after only a few moments.

"Coast is clear." she whispered. "Nobody remembers a thing."

I followed her down the stairs and Caleb followed from a short distance. We went to our corner. Caleb acted completely natural, not even looking at Freaky Fred now that he knew about his talent. Of course, that could have been Fred's fault. Nobody wants to look at Fred.

I was amazed at how normal we were treated. Everyone ignored us, as usual. Even though I trusted Sylvia with my life, obviously, I was impressed that nobody besides the three of us had any idea Caleb or I had been involved in any way.

Of course, Riley got home soon after we did and his head exploded when he saw the remains of the new vampires. Several arms, feet, and ears were lost and later returned to their rightful owners. Sylvia, Caleb, and I pretended we didn't exist, and Riley didn't notice us. I wasn't able to watch Caleb the entire time, but occasionally I would sweep my eyes across the room to check for danger in general, and I would check on Caleb in the process. Nothing unexpected happened during the day.

Luckily, we were all allowed out to hunt. Sylvia and I could go three days between hunts until the burning became unbearable. Caleb could go about six days, but was good at sneaking off when he wanted. I was placed in a group with Raoul himself and a couple of his friends. Sylvia went with "Kristie with an e" and a few of her gang. I wasn't sure where Caleb had been assigned. Naturally, I was terrified, but Sylvia reassured me that Raoul truly remembered nothing of our "misunderstanding" the night before. Nevertheless, I resolved to ditch his group ASAP.

The opportunity came when we found two homeless people asleep at an old bus stop. I left the three of them to fight while I held my breath and ran. My throat was on fire, and I desperately wanted to turn and fight for them, but I reminded myself Raoul would tear my head off if I did. He would probably set me on fire, too, with the lighters used for cleaning up evidence after hunting. The self-preservation instinct was enough to keep me running until I could control my thoughts. I lucked into a couple homeless humans myself on my route to the park, and they helped soothe the burning in my throat and allowed me to think better.

When I got to the park, I roamed for a bit, sniffing the air for signs any other vampire had been here in the last couple of hours. I was the first, so I leapt onto the roof of an abandoned building across the street. I wa careful to stay in places where most people avoided, so I didn't slaughter half the city. It was one of the few instructions Riley had given us, and since he didn't seem to care for us much, the stuff he did tell us was probably important. Of course, I also saw some logic behind it. If we were to feed in more crowded parts of the city, chances are we would miss one or two people when we tried to kill witnesses, and the world would once again know vampires existed. They were helpless against us either way, but if they had gone this long without believing we existed, older vampires must think it important to keep the secret. There must be more, there was no way we were the first. Our creator had to have been created by someone, right?

I pondered this question for a few minutes, then the wind shifted. I smelled nothing strange. I knew Sylvia would make it, she had always been my best friend in this life and the life before. Did any other vampires have best friends? Were we weird that way, or was it more common than I realized? Could vampires only be best friends if they had known each other in their human lives and therefore known they meant each other no harm? I decided it didn't really matter.

But would Caleb come? I had only really known him for a little over twelve hours, though he claimed he had been watching me for weeks, if not months. What could _that_ possibly mean? Did he just happen no notice my existence and brain usage, or had he actually been watching me, keeping tabs on me? He cared enough to attack Raoul to save me from the fire, which could have easily meant he would be killed in my place. And afterwards, he cared enough to make sure I was alright, though it might have been easier to ignore me and pass it off as frustration that Raoul was burning so many people. But then again, would it?

There was an obvious answer to why he had done it, but it was ridiculous. I squashed the idea before it even fully developed in my brain. Of course, being the damsel in distress, I might have a crush on the one who rescued me. That said nothing about what he thought about me.

The wind blew from the park again, disrupting my train of thought as I caught Sylvia's smell. She was beside me on the roof less than three seconds later.

"You alright?" I checked.

"Never better. You?"

"I'm good. Did you hunt anything?"

"I got a couple with my group before finding you. Did you?"

"Lucked into a couple. But after Caleb gets here, we should go again."

Half a second before I finished my sentence, we were joined by a third presence.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Sylvia said in a spooky voice.

"Did you hunt yet?" I asked him.

"One human. My throat still burns."

"Okay, then, let's go. We can talk later." I suggested. We leapt onto another roof in unison and started running. Soon we were in the area Sylvia and I had been in a couple months ago, where all the warehouses were. We crept through the streets, looking carefully.

"Bingo." Caleb called after a few minutes. "Six in here. Two for each of us."

We crept inside, keeping to the shadows. Five of them were playing cards, and one was passed out, drunk. They didn't notice us until it was too late. Their blood didn't taste very good, but it was blood. We lit them and a bunch of nearby wooden crates on fire. We ran to a nearby warehouse and resumed our "meeting" on the roof.

"So, why were we created?" I continued from the night before.

"Will Riley tell us or will we have to figure it out ourselves?" Caleb added.

"Do you want me to try to figure it out for us?" Sylvia asked.

We fell silent. The idea of examining Riley's memories had not occurred to me since the day I had learned we were "special." Would it be a risk worth taking?

"See, I thought this out." Sylvia said excitedly. "We didn't do it earlier because he things we learned might be dangerous. If I read his memories, tell you what we need to know, then try to erase Caleb's memory, I will end up forgetting anything I shouldn't know."

We thought for a moment. "I think that might work." I admitted. "Caleb?"

"It's worth a shot. Do you erase certain events or certain periods of time? Meaning, would you just forget everything you told me because that's what I remember, or would you forget the memories themselves?"

"I think I would forget the memories themselves." Sylvia replied. "I didn't remember what I did in the house, even though you didn't see me do anything but go in."

"Good point." he agreed. "Should we give it a shot?"

"Sure." I agreed.

"Yes." Sylvia said.

Caleb nodded solemnly. "We attack at dawn."


	4. Chapter 3

We carefully planned out "Operation read Riley's mind then brainwash ourselves to forget the stuff we didn't want to know" on our way back to the island. We continued our discussion in the tree we had stayed in the night before. We seriously needed to build a treehouse or something.

The plan was fairly simple: Caleb would just happen to spend the day nearby us. At some point, Sylvia would look through Riley's memories, and let me know if there was anything dangerous. She would then try to brainwash Caleb and be brainwashed in return. When the sun was about to set, she would go through Riley's memories again. We would meet the same way we had tonight, and discuss what we had learned. If necessary, Sylvia would be brainwashed again, then I would share my memories so she remembered our conversation but not the memories that started the conversation. Sylvia would have to be careful and make sure she didn't say anything wrong during our conversation, because Caleb wouldn't be able to forget it.

Then our plans changed. During our discussion, several vampires sprinted from the house and into the water. The three of us suddenly stiffened.

"I smell smoke." I said. The others obviously did as well. There was the smell of burning vampire, but it was faint. Mostly the smell was of burning wood. The house was burning.

"Oh, no, what do we do?" I panicked.

"We won't have anywhere safe when the sun rises." Sylvia agreed.

"Calm down." Caleb said. "I forgot you are only a few months old. It's actually impressive the house lasted this long. When the house won't work anymore, we relocate. Riley had another place somewhere. Our last house didn't even last a week."

That made me feel a little better. "But what if Riley gets back too close to sunrise? Will we have time to move?"

"Riley tries to return at least an hour before sunrise. We should be fine. If not… we'll wing it. Hide in a basement somewhere in Seattle."

"Okay." Sylvia agreed. "But can we move? Being this close makes me nervous."

The fire had spread quickly. The first hints of flames were beginning to show in the windows. We were several hundred feet away, but nevertheless we dropped from the tree and made a beeline for the water. Raoul was laughing hysterically as another vampire tried to fight him one-handed. I looked around for her other hand, but saw nothing. That must have been the faint smell of burning vampire in the smoke. We treaded water, watching the house burn down. We were slowly joined by others returning from hunting. Two hours before sunrise, before I really began to panic, Riley arrived. He was furious.

"Why can't you show any common sense? That was the fifth house we've burned to the ground! If you don't stop fooling around, we'll run out of homes and be burned by the sun! Who did this?"

All heads turned toward Raoul as their owners also sank into defensive crouches. "Did you burn anyone inside?" Riley demanded.

"No, only Debbie's left hand." Raoul replied, no longer laughing. Debbie hissed angrily and lunged at him. Riley grabbed her. "Stop fighting or I'll take all your hands!" he growled. "Here's the plan. We're going to wait half an hour for any stragglers, then we're relocating."

It was a tense half hour. Lots of small fights broke out, and Riley did his best to break them up. Caleb moved away from us so it wasn't obvious we almost trusted each other, but we made sure to watch for anyone who could attack each other. After the half hour was up, Riley yelled at us to stay still. He did a headcount, frowning.

"We'll wait fifteen more minutes." he said. I wondered if he was waiting for anyone in particular, and how many people were missing. When nobody showed up, he growled, "Okay, now follow me, unless you wish to know exactly what the sun feels like!" He swam away, and we followed him. We reached the mainland and started running. We ran for over thirty minutes, and I began to get nervous we wouldn't make it in time. But soon the house came into view, it looked sort of like a log cabin. Everyone made a beeline for the basement once they found it. Nobody got fried. While everyone was settling down, I met with Caleb and Sylvia.

"Later. Let's put it off for a couple of days while everything settles down." I suggested quietly. "We're not in a rush or anything. It will give us more time to figure out what we're looking for."

"Sounds good." Caleb agreed. "So, I will not accidentally-on-purpose sit nearby you today?"

"Actually, maybe you should." Sylvia suggested. "It's a new house, everyone would hang around different places. Might as well mark your territory now."

"Good idea." I told her. "Why don't we claim the corner there?" I pointed to a corner of the room near the exit, close enough to escape if we needed to, but not in the direct line of vision of angry vampires coming down the stairs. Sylvia and I sat down and Caleb leaned against the connected wall, far enough that nobody would notice we had anything to do with each other, but close enough nobody would try claiming space between us. After a couple of hours, we took turns wandering to a bookshelf that had belonged to the previous owners. There wasn't very much that was interesting, I guessed that the television on the other end of the room had been used more regularly. I passed the time skimming through different books and listening to the music booming from the speakers. Vampires could hear the quietest of sounds, but that didn't stop some of them from turning things full volume.

Finally, the sun set, and half the vampires were allowed out. Sylvia, Caleb, and I had gone the night before and so stayed. We continued to pass the time, ignoring the others. At one point Raoul almost got into a fight with somebody. It was Diego, Riley's right hand man. He hadn't made it to the house with us the night before, and spent the day in an underwater cave or something. I picked up the conversation even though I didn't really care enough to pay attention. Suddenly I felt overpowering revulsion, pushing me away, back into the corner. I felt so nauseated, if it had gone on any longer I would thrown up, even though I'm fairly sure vampires can't throw up. I heard a soft voice, saying "Keep it down." Had Fred spoken? Half the vampires left the room to get away from him. A little bit later, Riley returned and the nausea reduced a little more.

The day passed the same as before, although possibly more peacefully because a few of the vampires were better occupied, taking advantage of last night's hunt to raid for entertainment devices. It wasn't much better, though, there was still music booming, Riley yelling, and limbs lost. Sylvia and I were finally allowed out at sundown, but Caleb stayed, as he was older and could go longer without hunting.

We returned to find another burning vampire. We crouched in the corner, doing our best to avoid the sickeningly sweet smoke. I wondered who had done it, as Raoul himself was currently out hunting. It didn't take long to look like a pile of ashes.

Raoul came in, laughing when he saw the fire. Kristie and her friends came in soon after. I ignored them, watching a movie on the portable DVD player I had filched after hunting. The door opened and I heard a shriek of rage. I was suddenly grateful for our corner that wasn't in his line of vision. The room went silent. Riley was angry at us all the time, but now he seemed about to explode. I disregarded the fact I wanted to keep my abilities secret and went ahead and turned invisible out of self-preservation as I also stood up and crouched.

Riley destroyed a speaker, smashing it into the wall. The speaker and wall turned to dust. He grabbed Raoul's throat, who shrieked "I wasn't even here!" Riley ignored him and sent him after the speaker into the wall. Riley tore off Kevin's arm, then tore the arm into multiple pieces before throwing them back at Kevin's face.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" he yelled. "Why are you all _so stupid?_ Do _any_ of you have a brain?"

Riley tossed someone into something outside my line of vision, shattering it, before tearing of Sara's ear and a chunk of her hair. I noticed Kristie and Raoul standing together with their gangs- normally bitter enemies. If this got much farther, Riley was going down. He must have noticed, too, and started to calm down, although he was still furious.

"Listen to me!" he growled. "All our lives depend on you listening to what I'm saying now and _thinking!_ We are all going to _die._ Every one of us, you and me too, if you can't act like you have brains for just a few short days!"

This was a whole new level of Riley's anger. I was terrified, and I got the feeling we wouldn't need to wait much longer for the answers to our questions. Riley had everyone's attention, the vampires were still as statues.

"It's time for you to grow up and take responsibility for yourselves. Do you think you get to live like this for _free_? That all the blood in Seattle doesn't have a _price_? Are you listening now? Really listening?" He paused. The room stayed frozen. "Let me explain to you the precarious situation we are all in. I'll try to keep it simple for the slowest ones. Raoul, Kristie, come here."

I was fairly sure he meant Kristie-with-an-e. I stayed hidden. Neither Raoul or Kristie moved. Kristie bared her teeth.

"Fine." Riley growled. "We're going to need leaders if we're going to survive, but apparently neither of you is up to the task. I thought you had aptitude. I was wrong. Kevin, Jen, please join me as the heads of this team."

Kevin looked up from his newly reattached arm, wary but flattered. He stood up.

"Are you not able, either?" Riley said. Kevin stepped forward, but Raoul pushed him violently out of the way and went to stand next to Riley.

"Kristie or Jen, who will lead us?" Riley continued. I wondered what would happen if I tried stepping up. It wasn't worth the risk just to see the look on his face.

After a few agonizing seconds, Kristie flitted to Riley's other shoulder.

"That took too long to decide." Riley said. "We don't have the luxury of time. We don't get to fool around anymore. I've let you all do pretty much whatever you feel like, but that ends tonight."

He looked around the room, meeting everybody's gaze. Except for me. I was still invisible, afraid my sudden reappearance could cause the entire room to pounce on me.

"We have an enemy." Riley said seriously. A few of us were surprised. I wondered who he could be talking about. Who would want to kill us more than ourselves? We lost an average of a vampire a week to Raoul and his gang. We had never met anybody but ourselves who could cause any damage to us. But the statement made sense to me, deep down. There had to be even more of us out there.

"A few of you might be smart enough to have realized that if we exist, so do other vampires." Riley said, echoing my thoughts. "Other vampires who are older, smarter… more talented. Other vampires who _want our blood!_ "

Raoul and some of his gang members hissed.

"That's right," Riley continued. "Seattle was once theirs, but they moved on a long time ago. Now they know about us, and they are jealous of the easy blood they used to have here. They know it belongs to us now, but they want to take it back. They are coming after what they want. One by one, they'll hunt us down! We'll burn while they feast!"

He was using words we all could easily understand- blood, hunt, burn.

"Never," Kristie and her friends growled.

"We don't have a lot of choices," Riley said. "If we wait for them to show up here, they will have the advantage. This is their turf, after all. And they don't want to face us head-on, because we outnumber them and we are stronger than they are. They want to catch us separated; they want to take advantage of our biggest weakness. Are any of you smart enough to know what that is?" He pointed at the ashes that was all that remained of the vampire. Nobody said anything.

"Unity!" he shouted. "We don't have it! What kind of threat can we pose when we won't stop killing each other?" He kicked the pile, dust floating into the air. "Can you imagine them laughing at us? They think taking the city from us will be easy. That we're weak with stupidity! That we'll just hand them our blood."

Most of the vampires in the room snarled angrily.

"Can you work together, or do we all die?"

Raoul growled. "We can take them, boss."

"Not if you can't control yourself! Not if you can't cooperated with every single person in this room. Anyone you take out," he said, nudging the pile of ashes with his foot, "might be the one who could have kept you alive. Every one of your coven that you kill is like handing our enemies a gift. _Here,_ you're saying, _take me down!"_

I noticed his use of the word _coven._ We were a coven? The word implied a little more cooperation between members. That was probably the point Riley was trying to make.

"Let me tell you about our enemies," Riley said, and all our attention was focused on him. "They are a much older coven than we are. They've been around for hundreds of years, and they've survived that long for a reason. They are crafty and skilled and they are coming to retake Seattle with confidence- because they've heard the only ones they'll have to fight for it are bunch of disorganized children who will do half their work for them!"

A few more vampires growled, but they seemed more wary than angry now. A few looked ready to bolt.

"This is how they see us, but that's because they can't see us _together._ Together, we can _crush_ them. If they could see all of us, side by side, fighting together, they would be terrified. And that's how they're going to see us. Because we're not going to wait for them to show up here and start picking us off. We're going to ambush them. In four days."

There were some surprised and afraid noises from the group. I tried to organize my thoughts, which didn't make much sense. He had gone from not caring much about any of us to freaking out about other vampires who wanted Seattle. Couldn't we find another city? If there were others after us specifically, why was he so ballistic about it now? If he was suddenly so worried about us now, then we had definitely been created for a purpose. I couldn't see why he would be so afraid now when he had been careless before? Was he afraid for us, or for himself? Is that why we had been created? As a protection for him and _her?_ It was the only plausible explanation I could think of.

"It's the last thing they'll expect," Riley continued. "All of us- _together_ -waiting for them. And I've saved the best part for last. There are only _seven_ of them."

The room was silent. Then Raoul said " _What?"_

Kristie stared at Riley too. i hear whispers from around the room.

"Seven?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Hey," Riley snarled, "I wasn't joking when I said this coven is dangerous. They are wise and… devious. Underhanded. We will have power on our side, they will have deception. If we play it their way, they _will_ win. But if we take it to them on our terms…" Riley smiled.

"Let's go now." Raoul growled. "Let's get 'em out of the picture fast." Kevin growled in agreement.

"Slow down, moron. Rushing into things blind isn't going to help us win." Riley scolded.

"Tell us everything we need to know about them." Kristie said.

Riley hesitated thoughtfully for a minute. "All right, where to begin? I guess the first thing thing you need to know is… that you don't know everything there is to know about vampires yet. I didn't want to overwhelm you in the beginning."

I personally thought that becoming a vampire in and of itself was fairly overwhelming, but I didn't say anything.

"You have a little bit of experience with what we call 'talents.' We have Fred."

I tried to look at Fred, but found it even harder than usual. I assumed Fred didn't like the attention.

"Yes, well, there are some vampires who have gifts beyond the usual super strength and super senses. You've seen one aspect in our… coven. Gifts are rare- one in fifty, maybe- but every one is different. There's a huge range of gifts out there, and some of them are more powerful than the others."

Lots of murmurs came from the crowd of vampires, wondering if they were gifted. I didn't think there were any more besides Fred, Sylvia, myself, and possibly Caleb, but I could be wrong. The three of us were doing pretty well at hiding it.

"Pay attention!" Riley commanded. "I'm not telling you this for entertainment."

"This enemy coven," Kristie interrupted, "They're talented, right?"

Riley nodded in satisfaction. "Exactly. I'm glad someone here can connect the dots."

"This coven is dangerously talented," Riley continued, his voice hushed as if he were sharing a terrible secret. "They have a mind reader." He looked at our blank faces. " _Think,_ guys! He'll know everything in your head. If you attack, he'll know what move you're going to make before _you_ know it. You go left, he'll be waiting."

The room was filled with silence again.

"This is why we've been so careful- me, and the one who created you."

There were a few sudden movements from the crowd, twitches, flinching. The silence got more tense.

"You don't know her name, and you don't know what she looks like. This protects us all. If they'd stumbled across one of you alone, they wouldn't realize you were connected to her, and they might have let you be. If they knew you were part of her coven, there would be no delay in your execution."

I thought about that for a moment. It sounded like the enemy coven didn't care about any particular vampires in Seattle, just those that belonged to _her_ coven. And if we knew nothing about our creator, they couldn't know we were part of her coven. Or did they? Why us? Why Seattle? Couldn't we just move?

"Of course, it doesn't matter now that they've decided to move on Seattle. We will surprise them on our way in, and we will annihilate them." Riley whistled between his teeth. "Done. And then not only is the city all ours, other covens will know not to mess with us. We won't have to be so careful to cover our tracks anymore. As much blood as you want, for everyone. Hunting every night. We'll move right into the city, and _we will rule it._ "

There were resulting growls and snarls of agreement. It was an impressive sound, but I again said nothing, simply thinking about his words. They didn't make sense. I couldn't figure out what was wrong about them, they were just _wrong._ I exchanged a glance with Sylvia and Caleb, they looking in my general direction. I was still invisible.

"We have to work together, though. Today I'm going to lead you through some techniques. Fighting techniques. There's more to this than just scuffling around on the floor like toddlers. When it gets dark, we'll go outside and practice. I want you to practice hard, but keep your focus. I am not losing another member of this coven! We all need each other- every one of us. I will not tolerate any more stupidity. If you think you don't have to listen to me, you are wrong."

He smiled eerily, calmly. "And you will learn how wrong you are when I take you to _her-"_ a collective shudder ran through the room- "and hold you while she tears off your legs and then slowly, _slowly,_ burns off your fingers, ears, lips, tongue, and every other superfluous appendage _one by one._ "

Whoa. Freaky. I officially was scared of him. I noticed Raoul's face looked similar. I made a mental note to stay far away from him.

Riley's face went back to normal. "Now, let's get some teams figured out so that we can work in groups. Kristie, Raoul, get your kids together and then divvy up the rest evenly. No fighting! Show me you can do this rationally. Prove yourselves."

Of course, the entire room immediately started arguing. I thought they were distracted enough to make my reappearance, and luckily, nobody noticed but Sylvia and Caleb. Caleb stepped over to us.

"What did you think of that?" he said. "Does this answer our questions or make it worse?"

"Both." I replied immediately. "It answers the fact that we were obviously created for a purpose. But is this that purpose?"

"The way I see it, they've been encouraging us to keep it down, keep it secret," began Sylvia, "but this coven seems to be the only reason to do so, because he told us we'd have free rein afterwards. Which means two things: this coven really is the reason we're hiding, or he doesn't expect us to live through this battle. And if he expects us to not live through this battle, he can't think we exist for another purpose."

"If this coven is the real reason we're hiding, then he has known about them from the beginning. So why did he choose Seattle? Can't he choose a vampire-free city that would be up for grabs?" Caleb reasoned.

"Unless…" I said, "Unless it's both, in a way. He wants us to destroy this coven, Seattle will be open. Riley and our creator won't be bothered by them, but we will die. They create more vampires for this other purpose that we won't live to see because we'll be dead, and none of them know we were offered complete freedom in the first place."

The other two fell silent. "That's a disturbing thought." Caleb admitted.

Sylvia sighed. "The reasons are all messed up. Why don't we look at the end goal? Maybe his excuses are just excuses."

"End goal: he wants to destroy this enemy coven. Really badly. Or he needs to destroy this enemy coven. Really badly. Then he creates new vampires to fulfill his deeper purpose."

Caleb nodded. "That makes sense. Actually, it makes no sense. But the way you put it makes sense. Are we accomplishing the end goal? Or were we created to remove an obstacle blocking the end goal?"

Sylvia glanced around. "I think our time is up. Almost everyone has been chosen for groups."

Raoul looked at Caleb. "You," he said, gesturing to a clump of people behind him. Caleb got into the group without looking at us once. He was a pretty good actor.

"I'll take you." Kristie said to Sylvia. She stepped behind her.

"You're with me." Raoul said. I looked at him carefully, but didn't see any particular recognition. I still panicked. Caleb was here, but he had to pretend he didn't know me.

 _Help._ I pleaded silently with Sylvia. She looked at me, then concentrated carefully as Raoul took another person for his group. She squinted her eyes shut. The vampire walked to Kristie's group, and Sylvia was suddenly at my side.

"What did you do?" I hissed at her. She grinned at me.

"Something I've been working on, but didn't have a chance to actually try yet. I took the kid's memory of being chosen by Kristie, and replaced it with mine of being chosen by Raoul. Then I switched the memories of Kristie and Raoul so he thinks he chose me, and she thinks she chose the other kid."

"Wow! You're amazing! Thanks." I said, hugging her. She laughed and pulled away.

"I didn't just do it for you. I was terrified of not having anyone willing to side with me in my group."

Riley came back. He'd been upstairs with a girl… Bree? I wondered why.

"Now that you're split in half, get into groups of four." he instructed. I stood nearby Sylvia and Caleb, crossing my fingers. Sylvia could change us, but it would probably be harder as people like Riley would be paying attention.

I shouldn't have worried. Of course Raoul didn't want to separate his friends. Four of them were in one group, and the three of us were in a group with another vampire I didn't know.

"You should introduce yourselves so you at least know the names of the people you will be working with." Riley suggested.

"What is this, second grade?" the vampire grumbled. "I'm Logan."  
"Caleb." Caleb said.

"Sylvia." Sylvia added.

"Kristi." I finished.

Then Riley got us started training. He taught us to keep control, and to not do the obvious thing, because that was what the enemy was expecting. If I could, I would have been drenched in sweat and lying on the floor, gasping for air. But I was a vampire, so no sweating, and no exhaustion. Most of it was repetitive, trying to get it drilled into our heads. You would think we would be smart enough to get it after a few tries, but some people weren't smart. And most of the others would lose control anyway in a real fight. The best way to fix that was to get it deeply ingrained in our heads. I was glad I was in a group with two people who would never attack me, because tempers got short as the days wore on. Everyone was thirsty. I was grateful I'd been allowed out on the most recent night possible. Even so, I found myself growling at Sylvia and Caleb a few times. Limbs were lost and returned, a few torn off by Riley, but nobody got burned. Riley had searched for lighters and nobody had a chance to get them back or get new ones.

After three days and two nights, Riley called us to stop.

"Round it up, kids." he said. We stood in a semicircle around him, Sylvia next to me and Caleb a few feet away. Those that had been separated from friends during training stood together.

"You've done well." Riley told us. "Tonight, you get a reward. Drink up, because tomorrow you're going to want you strength."

I snarled in relief, and so did most of the others. My throat burned, this had been one of the longest amounts of time I'd had to go without hunting.

"I say _want_ and not _need_ for a reason." Riley continued. "I think you guys have got this. You've stayed smart and worked hard. Our enemies aren't going to know what's hit them!"

The group growled in agreement.

"Um, you mean tomorrow _night,_ right, boss?" Raoul checked.

"Right." Riley confirmed. I thought there was something off about his answer, but I decided it probably wasn't important.

"You ready for your reward?" The crowd roared- literally. "Tonight you get a taste of what our world will be like when our competition is out of the picture! Follow me!"

Riley darted away, people started pushing and shoving to be the closest behind him.

"Don't make me change my mind!" Riley bellowed back at us. "You can all go thirsty. I don't care!"

The group settled down a little. I drifted towards the back, not wanting to be part of any misunderstanding that would get my arm torn off. We crossed a freeway, with no unfortunate cars, ran through another strip of forest, and got to a beach. Riley stopped at the edge of the water.

"Don't hold back," he encouraged us. "I want you well fed and strong- at your peak. Now… let's go have some fun."

Riley dove into the water and we followed, immediately breaking the stillness of the surface. We all swam underwater, so nobody would be able to see us coming. I imagine we would have been quite a scary sight. I decided if I ever got the chance, I should take up not-snorkeling or not-scuba-diving. There were some cool advantages to not having to breathe. Soon we saw the front head back to the surface and we followed. Riley waited to make sure everyone had their heads above the water before speaking.

"There she is." he announced, gesturing towards a large ferry. "Give me a minute. When the power goes out, she's all yours."

We waited a little impatiently as he shot towards the ship. He headed straight to the top, probably to disable the radio or anything that would allow the humans to call for help. It made sense, logically, but why bother if our attack was the next night and after that we would be free to do whatever we wanted? If anything, we should rub it in the other covens' faces, to make them madder. It didn't make sense all put together, like a puzzle that would tell us something important, but we couldn't get the pieces to match up.

Riley shattered a window and went inside a room. A few seconds later, the ship went black. We could still see fine, of course. We got to the boat in about three seconds, and the air was full of screams. The smell of blood was all around me. My brain shut down and I hunted.

It was all over too soon. I had filled myself to nearly bursting, and I certainly wasn't the only one. When I looked around, all the eyes I saw were red, red, red. We were all flushed with blood, having satiated our thirst within the first few minutes, but continuing because the blood tasted so good. These people hadn't been homeless drunks, they had sweet, clean blood. Even so, I hadn't gotten much in comparison to others. Raoul was sitting on top of a massive pile of dead bodies. Lots of others were laughing gleefully. Kristie even called "That was amazing- three cheers for Riley!" A few of her group did cheer.

"Okay, kids," Riley said after a few minutes. "You've had a taste of the sweet life, but now we've got work to do!"

The crowd roared again.

"I've got three last things to tell you- and one of them involves a little dessert- so let's sink this scow and get home!"

Laughter and cheers came from all around the ship. I got to work punching, twisting, and kicking. Soon the boat began to sink in three parts and I leapt into the water. We watched it go down and swam back to shore.

It took hours for the crowd to settle down. Riley must have meant it when he said we would get free rein after the fight. If he didn't, he would probably get torn apart, then the horde would give themselves freedom. Eithe that, or he expected nobody to survive the fight.

But a few hours after the sun had risen, everyone calmed down and listened to him. He had earned their loyalty from last night's excursion. Riley stood halfway up the stairs so he would be visible to everyone.

"Three things," he began seriously. "First, we want to be sure we get the right coven. If we accidentally run across another coven and slaughter them, we'll tip our hand. We want our enemies overconfident and unprepared. There are two things that mark this coven, and they're pretty hard to miss. One, they look different- they have yellow eyes."

The crowd murmured. "Yellow?" Raoul repeated, disgusted.

"There's a lot of the vampire world out there that you haven't encountered yet. I told you these vampires were old. There eyes are weaker than ours- yellowed with age. Another advantage to our side." he nodded to himself. "But other old vampires exist, so there is another way we'll know them for sure… and this is where the dessert I mentioned comes into play." Riley smiled slyly. "This is going to be hard to process." he cautioned. "I don't understand it, but I've seen it for myself. These old vampires have gone so _soft_ that they actually keep- as a member of their coven- a pet human."

The crowd was silent, baffled.

"I know- hard to swallow. But it's true. We'll know it's definitely them because a human girl will be with them."

"Like… how?" Kristie asked. "You mean they carry meals around with them or something?"

"No, it's always the same girl, just the one, and they don't plan to kill her. I don't know how they manage it, or why. Maybe they just like to be different. Maybe they just like to show off their self-control. Maybe they think it makes them look stronger. It makes no sense to me. But I've seen her. More than that, I've smelled her."

Slowly, Riley reached into his jacket and pulled out a ziploc bag with red fabric inside.

"I've done some recon in the past few weeks, checking the yellow-eyes out as soon as they got near the area. I watch out for my kids."

Yeah, right. We're all gonna die, it was the only reasonable explanation. We were pawns to him.

"Anyway, when I could tell that they were moving in on us, I grabbed this"- he waved the bag- "to help us track them. I want you all to get a lock on this scent."

He passed the bag to Raoul, who opened it and inhaled. He looked at Riley in surprise.

"I know, amazing, right?"

The bag got passed around. I wondered what was so amazing about it. Caleb took a whiff, his eyes widening, then passed it to me. I inhaled and passed it to Sylvia.

It was really sweet. My mouth watered with venom. This was the sweetest human I had ever smelled. It didn't hurt my throat to smell it because I was so full of blood, but it smelled good.

The bag got passed around and everyone murmured excitedly. Riley clapped his hands to get our attention.

"Okay, so there's the dessert I was talking about. The girl will be with the yellow-eyes. And whoever gets to her first gets dessert. Simple as that."

There were growls from the group. I exchanged glances with Sylvia and Caleb. they had noticed too- it wasn't right. I couldn't believe how obvious it was. Why did anyone believe Riley? Maybe they all took his words for granted and us three were the only ones who knew to look for something wrong.

"And the last thing," Riley said reluctantly, "This will probably be even harder for you to accept, so I'll show you. I won't ask you to do anything I won't do. Remember that- I'm with you guys every step of the way."

The room was still. Where could he possibly be going with this?

"There are so many things you have yet to learn about being a vampire," Riley went on. "Some of them make more sense than others. This is one of the things that won't sound right at first, but I've experienced it myself, and I'll show you." he thought for a second… choosing his words, maybe? "Four times a year, the sun shines at a certain indirect angle. During that one day, four times a year, it is safe… for us to be outside in the daylight."

The room was absolutely still. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed. We were statues.

"One of those special days is beginning now. The sun that is rising outside today won't hurt any of us. And we are going to use this rare exception to surprise our enemies."

I thought about that. It didn't make much sense. Was Riley trying to make us burn? It was June, for heaven's sake. Sunlight couldn't get much more direct than that. Was it really true? Or were all days safe? How much of vampire superstition was a lie? We didn't sleep in coffins, we couldn't sleep at all. We were visible in mirrors, Sylvia and I had proved it our first night here. If he went first, I decided I would follow Riley into the sunlight, but I would have to find a way to learn when these four days were, or learn if it was the truth at all.

"It's right for you to be terrified at the thought," Riley told us. "The reason you are still alive is that you paid attention when I told you to be careful. You got home on time, you didn't make mistakes. You let that fear make you smart and cautious. I don't expect you to put that intelligent fear aside easily. I don't expect you to run out the door on my word. But…" he looked around the room at us. "I do expect you to _follow_ me out."

"Watch me," he said, "Listen to me. Trust me. When you see that I am okay, believe your eyes. The sun on this one day does have some interesting effects on our skin. You'll see. It won't hurt in any way. I wouldn't do anything to put you guys in unnecessary danger. You know that."

Yeah, right. Did allowing Raoul to be unsupervised count as unnecessary danger?

Riley started up the stairs. "Riley, can't we just wait-" Kristie tried.

"Just pay attention." Riley said, still moving up the stairs. "This gives us a big advantage. The yellow-eyes know all about this day, but they don't know that _we_ know."

As he spoke, he reached the kitchen. No light could possibly reach us here, but everyone still flinched away from the stairs and open heard him move towards the front door.

"It takes most young vampires a while to embrace this exception- for a good reason. Those who aren't cautious about the daylight don't last long."

We waited nervously. "'Kay, guys, I'm going out." Riley said. "You don't have to be afraid today, I promise."

Light burst into the basement, reflected in a strange way, like it had hit mirrors before hitting us. We hissed and backed into the one of the corners.

"Relax, everybody." Riley called. "I am absolutely fine. No pain, no burn. Come and see. C'mon!"

Nobody moved.

"You know," Riley continued, "I'm curious to see who is the bravest one of you. I have a good idea about who the first one through that door is going to be, but I've been wrong before."

If I hadn't been so terrified I would have snorted. Very subtle. But it worked. Raoul started inching towards the door. He snapped his fingers, and Kevin and another kid followed him.

"You can hear me. You know I'm not fried. Don't be a bunch of babies! You're _vampires._ Act like it."

Technically, we _were_ acting like it. Babies weren't afraid of sunlight. Raoul didn't go any closer. After a few minutes Riley came back down the stairs. His skin shimmered a little- weird.

"Look at me- I'm fine. Seriously! I'm embarrassed for you. C'mere, Raoul!"

Raoul dodged out of the way, and Riley grabbed Kevin, dragging him upstairs.

"Tell them, Kevin." Riley encouraged.

"I'm okay, Raoul!" Kevin called down. "Whoa. I'm all… shiny. This is crazy!" he said, laughing.

"Well done, Kevin." Riley praised. Raoul gave in and slowly climbed the stairs. Eventually he made it upstairs and he was laughing as well. The group trickled up slowly. I gestured for Sylvia and Caleb to follow me. We cautiously made our way up, seeing the other vampires enjoying themselves. They looked like disco balls, or like their skin was made of billions of miniscule diamonds, reflecting tiny rainbows of light everywhere. I took a deep breath, unable to ignore the evidence in front of me. I stepped into the sunlight. It was warm against my skin, but in a sunlight sort of way, not a burning sort of way. I looked at my arms, glittering, reflecting, sparkling.

"They're right." I said. "Come on out." Sylvia and Caleb stepped into the sun. I wondered if humans had ever seen this before. What did it look like compared to burning in the sunlight?

We were among the first half of people in the sun, and I figured it would be a while for the rest to get up here. Riley started threatening them. I scampered up a nearby tree, hoping the others would assume I simply wanted to see myself closer to the sun. Caleb and Sylvia knew what I was doing and followed.

"What do you think?" I whispered to them. "We sort of know why we were created, but why is he giving us these excuses? Do we believe his four-days thing? And what's with the girl? The only thing offering her that way does is make us focus on getting her instead of eliminating this other coven. It'll become a competition for blood, not teamwork."

"That's right." Caleb agreed. "Priorities: figure out the end goal. Learn the four days or figure out if they're bogus. Focus. I have an idea: if we smell the girl, we'll definitely lose focus. I propose we hold our breath. We'll track those who are tracking her."

"Are you sure?" Sylvia said sadly. "She smelled really good."

"Take a step back and look at it this way," I suggested. "There is no way we will be at the front of the pack. Even if we were going for the girl, there is no possible way to get to her first. Do you want to be fighting Raoul and his friends for her blood while the yellow-eyes slaughter us?"

"I see. Good point." Sylvia agreed. "But it's too bad. Holding our breath it is, then."

We dropped from the tree. Nobody had noticed our conversation.

Riley had to pull the last few people up the stairs, and we got organized for one last training session. He introduced a new strategy- Kristie's group would break off from us and flank the enemy from the side. We practiced for an hour, then Riley gathered us together again.

"We leave now. You're strong and you're ready. And you're thirsty for it, aren't you? You can feel the burn. You're ready for dessert."

It wasn't very nice of him to say that when only one of us could possibly get dessert. Lots of people would be disappointed… and possibly angry.

"The yellow-eyes are coming slowly from the south, feeding along the way, trying to get stronger. _She's_ been monitoring them, so I know where to find them. She's going to meet us there, with Diego, and we're going to hit them like a tsunami. We will overwhelm them easily. And then we will celebrate."

He held his hand out, and Raoul gave back the bag containing the red shirt.

"Take another whiff, everybody. Let's get focused!"

Riley passed the red shirt around again. I looked at Caleb and Sylvia and shook my head. "We don't want to be distracted." I mouthed. They nodded. When the bag got to me, I stuck my face in it but didn't breathe. I passed it and the other two did the same.

"Are you with me?" Riley yelled. The crowd screamed.

"Let's take them down, kids!" We took off, running southward.

 **A/N: Thank you so much to those have read and reviewed so far! I just started this account so it won't let me reply to reviews for 24 hours, but in response to silly60: Thank you! and the answer to both your questions is... mayyyybe ;)**


	5. Chapter 4

Caleb, Sylvia and I drifted to the back, as we had planned. After a little more than five minutes of running, Raoul, who was in front, let out a howl and ran faster. He had the scent of the girl.

"Now." I snarled quietly, taking a deep breath automatically. We followed the mob of thirsty vampires, trying to look like part of them. Only two people were behind us, and one of them was Riley. He started yelling at us.

"Kristie, go around! Move around! Split off! Kristie, Jen! _Break off!_ "

I was glad of my decision to hold my breath. Even though it was painful to keep myself from seeking out the sweet blood, the ones who were giving in had lost all focus and control, caring only about the hunt now. I saw Caleb and Sylvia glance back at Riley, clearly thinking along the same lines. I flashed Caleb a thumbs-up for his idea, and he grinned in response.

Soon, Riley took action, running forward and pulling Sara out of the group, then another kid. After that, Kristie caught on and yelled at her group to split off. We kept running. Soon at the very front, we heard new snarls and growling. We had reached the ambush site. But soon after we heard these first noises of impeding destruction, they changed into noises of surprise and fear… or was it the enemy making those sounds? I smelled smoke, from a normal fire, not yet burning vampire, when the wind shifted in my direction. I accidentally caught a small whiff of the girl's scent as well. They were ready for us. I continued holding my breath, trying to calm myself, keep my head clear, like Riley said. Most of what he said didn't make sense, but his battle tactics did. I growled as we emerged into the clearing and I got my first look at the enemy. It was not what I was expecting. A huge wolf, the size of a horse, leapt at me, a snarl on his face, huge paws extended. I yelped and dove to the ground, instinctively going invisible. I took a moment to stand back and get my bearings. There were huge wolves everywhere, nine of them. There were even more vampires, but most of them would be in my coven. It was too hard to tell in the chaos. But as I watched, I saw Sara's head torn off when a wolf tackled her from behind and a blond vampire tossed the head in the fire. After making sure the body followed, the two dove back into the fray. I looked around and went in myself. I decided to become visible, so I would be recognizable to allies. That pretty much included Sylvia and Caleb, nobody else. I concentrated on staying alive as opposed to fighting, which probably helped. I constantly looked around, making sure I wasn't being attacked from behind. I spotted Sylvia and grabbed her, dragging her towards the trees on the edge of the clearing.

"What do we do now? We're outnumbered insanely!" she yelped. "At least in skill, anyway. If we go back out there, we'll die!"

"I saw Sara's head torn off." I agreed. "I almost enjoyed it. But you're right. I can't believe it hasn't occurred to me before- we'll just leave, run away."

Sylvia gaped at me. "Of course! Who says we need to be their puppets? Let's go, now, before they notice us and kill us."

I turned, ready to flee into the forest, glancing over our shoulder to make sure we weren't being followed. We weren't- but I still froze in fear. I saw Caleb being approached by two wolves. He darted to the side but one leapt on top of him. The second bit through his arm with a terrible _screech._ Caleb fell to the ground, his face contorted in pain. I didn't even think, just sprinted towards him. I crouched over him the same way he had for me with Raoul, what felt like a separate lifetime ago. I snarled up at the huge wolf towering over me, but the second wolf reached forward and batted Caleb's head off.

In that moment, I heard, or rather felt, two snaps at once. The first was the sound of Caleb's head coming off, the second something inside of me. I didn't pause to consider what it meant as I scooped up his head, arm, and the rest of his body and the wolves looked around nervously, sniffing the air and whimpering. They pawed the ground where Caleb had been. I ran towards the trees, hearing Sylvia whispering hysterically, "Kristi? Kristi, are you there?"

I ignored her as I set Caleb's parts of the ground. I licked his neck, coating it in as much venom as I could before putting it back on his torso and licking the seams. Did the venom of other vampires heal the same way your own did? I think it did, but I couldn't know for sure.

"Caleb? Caleb, are you all right?" I whispered frantically. His eyes fluttered open and a heaved a sigh of relief. "You're alive." I cried. He smiled. "Yes. Thanks to you."

He grabbed me with the arm that was currently attached and kissed me. I pulled him towards me, hugging him back, simply floating with happiness. He was alive, and we were together. I hadn't even realized I cared until I saw the wolf standing over him and saw him fall.

I heard Sylvia's yelp of surprise. "Kristi? Caleb? What is going on?"

We broke apart, Sylvia staring at us.

"Umm… We're alive?" I said. Caleb got up and attached his other arm.

"Yes, and I see you are happy about that, very nice, but how could you run off and reappear again like that? Give me some warning next time, you scared me to death."

"Sorry." I said sheepishly. "I saw him being attacked, so I saved him and came back."

"But he reappeared too." she protested. "No smell or anything. Like you."

Caleb shrugged. "I didn't do anything."

I thought about that second snap inside of me. It made sense all of a sudden.

"I made him invisible too. The wolves got all confused when we disappeared. I guess I . lost control of it… um, earlier… and we reappeared. Here, let me try something." I tried to hide more than one person at once again. I went for Sylvia, to make sure it was really me doing it and not another thing of Caleb's. I reached out to her mentally, and felt like there was a stretchy string connecting us. The farther away we got, the harder it was to mentally hold on to her.

"You both disappeared." Caleb reported. "And I think the battle around us is coming to an end. We should do whatever it was you were planning to do when you hid here."

Sylvia could still see me, so I assumed invisible people could see each other. I reached out to Caleb and found it a little harder to hold on to them both, but it was barely noticeable. I hid our minds, too, the way I had done when Sylvia first tried looking at my memories, in case the mind reader was nearby.

"I see you both now. Are we all visible or invisible?"

"Invisible… but we really should come up with a better word for it. You can't see us, but you can't hear, smell, or sense us if you have one of the fancy mind talents. Sylvia and I were planning to make a run for it. Why fight a battle that isn't really ours? Even if we win, we'll still be stuck with Riley for the rest of our existence, or until he lets us go."

"Okay, good idea. I'm right behind you." Caleb agreed. I came out of the trees and walked around the perimeter of the clearing, trying to figure out who was winning. I saw an awful lot of wolves, so I assumed Riley's side was losing. Then, in front of us, running into the trees, I saw one of us, the girl named Bree. The blond vampire I saw earlier tackled her to the ground and prepared to tear her head off.

"Please!" Bree sobbed. I was surprised when the blond vampire hesitated, holding her, and she didn't bother to fight back. Had she given up? The blond vampire threw Bree at one of the trees, and crouched over her, ready to attack. She crumpled to the ground and didn't move. He waited patiently, and I was amazed by his control. He wasn't battle-crazy like we had been, he was calm and focused.

"Please," Bree repeated, "I don't want to fight." I glanced at Sylvia and Caleb, who shrugged. Confusing. Neither was attacking, but they clearly were on opposite sides and couldn't possible know each other.

The blond's yellow eyes softened with something that looked like… empathy?

"Neither do I, child." he said. "we are only defending ourselves."

He looked honest, and I couldn't help but believe him more than I had Riley. Were they going to attack Seattle in the first place?

"We didn't know." Bree said. "Riley lied. I'm sorry." I was impressed. She had seen through Riley too? Why had we never noticed her? There was a moment of silence, and I realized it really was silent. The battle was over. The yellow-eyes had won. A woman, with brown hair and yellow eyes, joined our small audience.

"Carlisle?" She looked at Bree in confusion.

"She doesn't want to fight." the blond vampire, Carlisle, explained. The woman touched his arm. "She's so frightened, Carlisle. Couldn't we…"

Carlisle relaxed a little but kept his eyes on Bree.

"We have no wish to harm you." The female vampire said to Bree. "We didn't want to fight any of you."

I was amazed. These yellow-eyed vampires were so different from us. Controlled, civilized, caring, peaceful, honest… Why had Riley wanted us to attack them? Was it such a bad thing they had won?

"I'm sorry." Bree whispered.

"Child," Carlisle said, "Will you surrender to us? If you do not try to harm us, we promise we will not harm you."

We stared in disbelief. This was so different. But Carlisle was telling the truth.

"Sylvia, take a look at his memories, would you? Why are they so _different_?" I suggested. I turned back to the conversation.

"Yes," Bree whispered. "Yes, I surrender. I don't want to hurt anybody."

Carlisle held out his hand to her. "Come, child. Let our family regroup for a moment, then we'll have some questions for you. If you answer honestly, you have nothing to fear."

How would they know if she was honest? Probably the mind reader could say so. Bree slowly got to her feet, being careful not to make sudden movements.

"Carlisle?" Another blond vampire appeared. He was tall, muscular, and covered in scars. There were so many of them, he almost looked like he had scales on his neck and arms. The message was clear: he had been in hundreds of fights, and he had never lost. I instinctively backed away, hissing. When he saw Bree, he got ready to spring.

"Jasper!" Carlisle warned.

Jasper froze and stared at Carlisle. "What is going on?"

"She doesn't want to fight. She's surrendered."

Jasper frowned, and I suddenly felt frustrated, but I had no idea why. The feeling passed after a second.

"Carlisle, I...I'm sorry, but that's not possible. We can't have any of these newborns associated with us when the Volturi come. Do you realize the danger that would put us in?"

"Jasper, she's only a child." the female protested. "We can't just murder her in cold blood."

Seriously, what was with these guys? They cared. They acted like she was an actual person. She was their prisoner, and they cared for her more than Riley ever had with any of us.

"It's our family on the line here, Esme. We can't afford to have them think we broke this rule."

Esme stood in front of Bree, turning her back to her. I was amazed, did the vampires never worry about being attacked by each other? Carlisle noticed her action, and eyed Bree warily. Bree had noticed too, and seemed just as surprised. She stayed still.

"No, I won't stand for it." Esme said.

"Jasper, I think we have to take the chance," Carlisle said slowly. "We are not the Volturi. We follow their rules, but we do not take lives lightly. We will explain."

"They might think we created our own newborns in defense."

"But we didn't. And even had we, there was no indescretion here, only in Seattle. There is no law against creating vampires if you can control them."

"This is too dangerous." Jasper protested. Carlisle touched his shoulder gently.

"Jasper. We cannot kill this child."

After a moment, Jasper sighed. "I don't like this… at least let me take care of her. You two don't know how to deal with someone who's been running wild so long."

"Of course, Jasper." Esme agreed. "But be kind."

Jasper rolled his eyes. "We need to be with the others. Alice said we don't have long."

Carlisle took Esme's hand and they headed back to the field.

"You there," Jasper said to Bree sternly. "Come with us. Don't make one rash move or I _will_ take you down."

Jasper paused. "Close your eyes." he said. Bree hesitated.

"Do it!" he commanded. Bree closed her eyes.

"Follow the sound of my voice and don't open your eyes. You look, you lose, got it?"

Bree nodded. "This way." Jasper said. They walked out of the trees. I turned to Sylvia and Caleb. They stared at me with baffled expressions.

"That was different." Sylvia broke the silence.

"How much were you able to get from their memories?" Caleb asked.

"A lot." Sylvia said. "A lot of different things. I'll tell you about it later. It's really impressive."

"Does anyone want to follow them?" I asked. Caleb and Sylvia nodded eagerly.

"Of course. We need to know what's going on. I get the feeling there is more that Riley didn't tell us than we thought." Caleb said. Sylvia nodded, still processing what she had seen in Carlisle's and the others' memories. I was dying to know what she had learned, but I could wait a little longer. I turned and we walked into the clearing, making sure to stand far enough away that nobody would accidentally run into us. As we made our way through the smoke, we heard agonized howling and voices. The howling sounded like it belonged to the giant wolves. What was going on? Had the battle started again? We crouched, ready to fight if we needed, but still unable to see clearly through the thick smoke. The howling quieted until it was only one voice. Carlisle spoke over the howling and the other voices, saying _thank you_ for something. The smoke blew in a different direction, and I saw Bree sitting by the fire, positioned so the smoke would obscure her view of everything the yellow-eyes and the wolves were doing. Jasper had his hands over her ears. We moved out of the smoke to get a better view. Then two more people came into the clearing- one was a vampire, with reddish-brown hair and yellow eyes, carrying an unconscious human. She was still alive, I heard her heartbeat. And then I panicked.

"Don't breathe, there's the human." I warned Caleb and Sylvia. "We can't take her, we'll never make it, we'll be destroyed even if we're invisible. Concentrate, we can't afford losing focus now." I pleaded, my voice unsteady. I ran out of breath and inhaled. Luckily, the air was full of the sickly sweet purple smoke, and the smell drove all thoughts or scents of the girl out of my mind. Next to me, the others stopped breathing as well. I was keeping my head so far, but my throat _burned._ I was close to losing it. I hoped if I lost control, Caleb and Sylvia would hold me back instead of joining me in the hunt. We might get the girl invisible, but we would still die. I watched as the vampire set the girl gently on the ground. The voices discussed for a few more minutes, and then the wolves left.

I listened carefully, curiously- the yellow-eyes were discussing the girl.

"Carlisle- it's been five minutes." The one with reddish hair said anxiously.

"She'll come around when she's ready, Edward." Carlisle answered calmly. "She's had too much to deal with today. Let her mind protect itself."

"Sylvia, what about her memories?" Caleb asked. "How much does she know?"

Sylvia concentrated for a moment. "I don't know. I can't feel her, almost like when Kristi shields her mind, but she's _human._ "

I turned back to the group huddled around her.

"Alice, how long do we have?" The reddish-brown hair, who must be Edward, asked. A small female with short spiky hair answered in a high, clear voice.

"Another five minutes. And Bella will open her eyes is thirty-seven seconds. I wouldn't doubt she can hear us now."

"Bella, honey? Can you hear me? You're safe now, dear." Esme said. I watched and listened, fascinated. The girl must be named Bella. They treated her like one of them- certainly a more vulnerable one of them, but they sounded anxious about her. Nothing implied they were ever planning to feed on her.

The one named Edward bent down- was he biting her, finally seeing sense? No, he was whispering something in her ear. After a few seconds, her eyes opened. He kissed her. What? How could they stand to be so close to her? Sylvia started looking at Edward, then suddenly lunged forward. She was hunting. Caleb and I leapt at her. I pinched her nose in case she was smelling the girl, and I made sure not to breathe in return. Sylvia calmed down.

"How can _he_ stand it?" she hissed. "It shouldn't be possible."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Her blood smells sweeter to him than to any of us. It's as if we went up there and started smelling her fresh blood, but ten times stronger. He's had a century of practice staying in control, but it smells stronger than anything else. She shouldn't still be alive. She almost died the first time they met… and ever since. For a while, and then it stopped. I'll explain later. Sorry I lost control, I simply smelled her through his memories and I lost it."

I nodded, confused. "Huh. But what do you mean, a century of practice staying in control? Do they live with humans?"

"Not live with them, but… I'll tell you later. They must be either crazy or amazing. Why do they do it?..." She trailed off, baffled by some piece of information she had encountered. I turned back to the other conversation.

"Three minutes." Alice said quietly. What were they waiting for? They seemed tense, afraid. And why did this vampire named Alice know when the girl was going to wake up?

The girl, Bella, looked at Bree. I felt sympathy for her, I could tell she hadn't bothered to hold her breath, and was in hunting mode. She didn't have others like Sylvia did to hold her back. It was all she could do to stay on the ground and keep from springing. I stared at her, wishing there was some way I could help as the others continued their conversation. As I watched, Bree suddenly let out a long wail. Jasper got into a crouch, ready to leap at her, and Edward moved protectively in front of the girl. Carlisle stood by Jasper's side.

"Have you changed your mind, young one?" he asked calmly. "We don't want to destroy you, but we will if you can't control yourself."

"How can you stand it?" Bree moaned. "I _want_ her." Her nails dug into the ground as she tried to hold herself down.

"You must stand it." Carlisle told her. "You must exercise control. It is possible, and it is the only thing that will save you now."

She put her arms around her head, whimpering.

"Shouldn't we move away from her?" the girl suggested to Edward.

"We have to stay here." he murmured in reply. " _They_ are coming to the north end of the clearing now."

Who was _they?_ Surely he could not mean Riley and our creator. These vampires wouldn't be so afraid of them. I looked towards the north end of the clearing, unable to see far through the thick smoke. A black diamond appeared out of the smoke.

"Hmm." A dead-sounding voice came from the short figure at the front of the formation. I realized the four were vampires, it long black cloaks. Their eyes were the dark red of rose petals.

"Welcome, Jane." Edward said. The girl who had spoken, Jane, looked around the clearing, her eyes settling on Bree.  
"I don't understand." she said in the same dead voice.

"She has surrendered." Edward explained.

"Surrendered?"

"Carlisle gave her the option."

"There are no options for those who break the rules."

I was baffled. The yellow-eyes seemed to respect the dark-cloaked vampires,though they outnumbered them. They clearly had a higher status or something. Did vampires have rulers? Government? I looked at Caleb, who shrugged. Sylvia simply watched them, eyes narrowed, but she seemed a little tense.

"That's in your hands." Carlisle said peacefully. "As long as she was willing to halt her attack on us, I saw no need to destroy her. She was never taught."

"This is irrelevant." Jane replied.

"As you wish."

Jane shook her head a tiny bit, then continued. "Aro hoped that we would get this far enough west to see you, Carlisle. He sends his regards."

Carlisle nodded. "I would appreciate if you would convey mine to him."

"Of course," said Jane with a smile.

So there were more of them, at least one more.

"It appears that you've done our work for us today… for the most part." She glanced at Bree. "Just out of professional curiosity, how many were there? They left quite a wake of destruction in Seattle."

Professional curiosity? This must be their job. Were they vampire police? I hoped nothing had gone noticeably wrong with the numbers when we had disappeared.

"Eighteen, including this one." Carlisle said. Jane looked at the fire, as if she were trying to count the bodies burning.

"Eighteen?" she replied, sounding unsure.

"All brand-new. They were unskilled." Carlisle said dismissively.

"All?" Jane replied sharply. "Then who was their creator?"

"Her name was Victoria." Edward said. I turned to make sure the others had got it. If we ever ran across her, we would know.

"Was?" Jane asked. Edward jerked his head toward eastern end of the clearing. In the forest beyond, I saw another column of purple smoke.

" _Yes!"_ Sylvia hissed.

"This Victoria," Jane continued, "she was in addition to the eighteen here?"

"Yes. She had only one other with her. He was not as young as the one here, but no older than a year."

"Riley!" Caleb growled triumphantly. He gave high fives and I hugged Sylvia.

"Twenty," Jane breathed. "Who dealt with the creator?"

"I did." Edward told her.

Jane's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing, and turned to Bree.

"You there," she said, her voice now harsh, "What is your name?"

Bree simply glared at her. Jane smiled back serenely.

The air was suddenly filled with Bree's screams. The sound startled me, and I got into a crouch. Beside me, Sylvia growled and Caleb hissed. The screaming stopped.

"Your name?" Jane repeated.

"Bree," Bree gasped. Jane smiled again, and Bree screamed. Sylvia whimpered. I didn't like this. No wonder these yellow-eyes were wary of her and her companions.

"She'll tell you anything you want to know," Edward said, "You don't have to do that."

Our enemy defending one of us?

The screaming stopped and Jane looked up, her eyes suddenly amused. "Oh, I know."

She turned back to Bree, who lay panting, face pressed against the ground. "Bree, is his story true? Were there twenty of you?" Her voice was cold again.

"Nineteen, twenty maybe more, I don't know! Sara and the one who's name I don't know got into a fight on the way…" she babbled, anxious not to tortured again.

"And this Victoria- did she create you?"

"I don't know," she said, flinching, "Riley never said her name. I didn't see that night… it was so dark, and it hurt…" Bree shuddered. "He didn't want us to be able to think of her. He said our thoughts weren't safe…"

Jane glanced at Edward, then back to Bree. Was Edward the mind reader Riley had spoken of? He hadn't noticed our presence yet, or he was a very good actor.

"Tell me about Riley." Jane said. "Why did he bring you here?"

"Riley told us that we had to destroy the strange yellow-eyes here. He said it would be easy. He said that the city was theirs, and they were coming to get us. He said once they were gone, all the blood would be ours. He gave us her scent." She pointed at the human. "He said we would know we had the right coven, because she would be with them. He said whoever got to her first could have her."

"It looks like Riley was wrong about the easy part," Jane commented. Bree nodded and sat up. "I don't know what happened. We split up, but the others never came. And Riley left us, and he didn't come to help like he promised. And then it was so confusing, and everyone was in pieces. I was afraid. I wanted to run away. That one-" she looked at Carlisle- "said they wouldn't hurt me if I stopped fighting."

"Ah, but that wasn't his gift to offer, young one." Jane murmured. "Broken rules demand a consequence."

It was clear what she was saying, but Bree looked at her blankly. Jane turned back to Carlisle. "Are you sure you got all of them? The other half that split off?"

"We split up, too." Carlisle said, nodding. Was he going to mention the wolves?

"I can't deny that I'm impressed." The other cloaked figures behind Jane murmured in agreement. "I've never seen a coven escape this magnitude of offensive intact. Do you know what was behind it? It seems like extreme behavior, considering the way you live here. And why was the girl the key?" She looked at the girl, Bella, for a second.

"Victoria held a grudge against Bella." Edward said. Jane laughed.

"This one seems to bring out bizarrely strange reactions in our kind." She smiled at the girl the way she had smiled at Bree. Edward stiffened beside her.

"Would you please not do that?" Edward said tightly.

Jane laughed again. "Just checking. No harm done, apparently."

So this girl _was_ special. Jane couldn't hurt her, and Sylvia couldn't see her memories. It couldn't be the human/vampire difference, because Sylvia could erase the memories of other humans easily.

"Well, it appears there's not much left for us to do. Odd." Jane said. "We're not used to being rendered unnecessary. It's too bad we missed the fight. It sounds like it would have been entertaining to watch."

"Yes," Edward said quickly, "And you were so close. It's a shame you didn't arrive a half hour earlier. Perhaps then you could have fulfilled your purpose here."

Jane met Edward's glare. "Yes. Quite a pity how thing turned out, isn't it?"

Edward nodded to himself. Jane looked back at Bree. "Felix?"

"Wait," Edward interrupted. Jane looked at him and raised an eyebrow, but Edward spoke to Carlisle. "We could explain the rules to the young one. She doesn't seem unwilling to learn. She didn't know what she was doing."

"Of course," Carlisle said, "We would certainly be prepared to take responsibility for Bree."

I was confused. The yellow-eyes were trying to save Bree? Offering to make her one of their coven? Riley would never have done this. Even though we were already part of his coven, he wouldn't bother trying to save us. I glanced at Bree and could tell similar thoughts were running through her mind. She looked grateful, but she knew it was hopeless.

Jane looked confused, as if she were trying to tell if they were making a joke.

"We don't make exceptions, and we don't give second chances. It's bad for our reputation. Which reminds me…" Jane looked at the girl. "Caius will be _so_ interested to hear that you are still human, Bella. Perhaps he'll decide to visit."

Still human? They must be planning on making her a vampire. Interesting. The way they acted around her made a tiny bit more sense.

"The date is set," interjected the short one, Alice. "Perhaps we'll come visit you in a few months."

Jane shrugged indifferently, not meeting her gaze. She turned to Carlisle.

"It was nice to meet you, Carlisle- I'd thought Aro was exaggerating. Well, until we meet again…"

Carlisle nodded.

"Take care of that, Felix." Jane said, gesturing towards Bree. "I want to go home."

"Don't watch." Edward whispered, and Bella looked away. Bree closed her eyes. I watched, feeling it would be wrong to ignore her death. I flinched as they snapped Bree into pieces and tossed them into the bonfire. The cloaked figures turned and glided away into the smoke.

After a few minutes, the yellow-eyes ran away in a different direction. Edward carried Bella on his back. Alice frowned, then said something in Carlisle's ear, so low and fast I couldn't hear it. Then she spun and sprinted into the woods. Carlisle lingered for a moment.

"Should we talk to him?" I asked Sylvia and Caleb quickly. Sylvia nodded.

"We don't know much. We need all the help we can get."

"I'll do it, if he tries to attack me, you can just hide me again." Caleb proposed. Carlisle turned to leave and I mentally let go of Caleb.

"Wait!" he called. Carlisle spun and crouched, ready to defend himself. For some reason, understanding filled his eyes, but he remained wary.

"Can you help us?" Caleb asked. "We don't want to fight either."

"Perhaps," Carlisle answered, "When you say 'we,' where are the others?"

I released the shield. Carlisle didn't even flinch when Sylvia and I appeared.

"We need information, I think." I said. "We were part of the group with Bree, and we realize there is a lot we don't know if we want to stay alive. Can you help us?"

Carlisle nodded and relaxed. "Of course, but I cannot stay for too long, I am a doctor and there were a few who were wounded in the battle." Caleb opened his mouth to ask a question, probably about the doctor thing, but Carlisle held up a hand. "I will explain. Those who just visited us are part of the Volturi guard. They guard and are part of the Volturi coven, in Italy. They are the closest thing to a royal family we have in our world. They enforce the laws, though there is really only one- to keep the humans from learning about us. If a coven gets too obvious, like your newborn army in Seattle, they will destroy it. Most of the time it is a good thing, they are what keep some of us in check, they ensure we don't lose control. You were created as part of an army, which is not necessarily illegal unless you cannot stay hidden. If the Volturi find you, they will most likely kill you unless you have learned control. You must be able to resist killing all the humans nearby you."

I blinked in confusion, but their actions made much more sense now that I had that information.

"How can we learn to do that?" I asked.

"One way to practice this if you are desperate is to go 'vegetarian.'"

Caleb and I were baffled, but Sylvia nodded slowly as if it made a little sense.

"Some vampires are able to develop a conscience, and are able to stop themselves from killing humans. We drink the blood of animals, not humans. That is why our eyes are golden, not red. There are other advantages as well, such as being able to form stronger bonds in a coven, being more compassionate in general, and even being able to safely interact with humans on a regular basis. That is why I am able to be a doctor, and my 'children' are currently attending high school."

I hissed in outrage and amazement. "You don't drink human blood? You weren't coming to take Seattle from us at all! Why did Riley tell us that?"

"Victoria's mate, James, tried to kill Bella, so Edward killed him. Victoria swore she would kill Bella to hurt Edward the way he had hurt her. I'm not sure what she told Riley to get him to go along with her plans, but that was her eventual plan."

"Oh! That's why Riley just wanted us to get the girl." I exclaimed.

"Riley told us that four days a year, it is safe to go out during the day." Caleb said. "He said today was one of those days. Is that true?"

Carlisle shook his head, with an expression that looked like sympathy or pity on his face. "No, we can come out any day of the year, but don't come out in the sunlight near humans. You will draw too much attention. If you continue to hunt humans, do it at night. But if you can, please try to stay away from this area. We have a fairly permanent residence here, and we wish to remain inconspicuous. Also, near our home there is territory belonging to the wolves, and they will kill you if you trespass. They will certainly kill you if you harm any humans in Forks or LaPush. And don't even think of going after Bella, or the wolves and my son Edward will kill you quite painfully."

"Your son?" Sylvia asked, confused. Carlisle smiled.

"It's one of those things about being vegetarian. We form very close bonds and think of ourselves as a family. But be careful, and you should be fine."

"Of course. Thank you so much." I said gratefully.

"What have you been told about vampires with talents?" Carlisle asked.

"Some vampires have abilities beyond the usual, usually related to their minds, and they're all unique." Sylvia said. "Kristi can go invisible to sight, smell, hearing, and we think minds too, but we're not sure. She can hide us too. I can see, erase, and sometimes change memories. We're not sure what Caleb can do, but when I tried to erase his memory I ended up erasing my own instead."

Carlisle nodded thoughtfully. "If you are so talented, there may be a way to save yourselves if the Volturi come for you. They search for powerful gifts to add to their guard. If they learn of you, they may want to recruit you, if you have learned control. As you have seen, Jane can torture minds. Aro, one of the three Volturi, can see any memory or thought you have ever had by touching you. If I meet him soon, he will learn of your existence and come after you. You must learn control by then. There are many others of them. I must go, I wish you good luck. You will probably live as nomads for a while until you can find a home somehow or join a coven. It wouldn't be safe for you to have to find supplies without being in control first…" he mused. "I will leave some supplies you might need here tonight. You can come get them tomorrow. Do you need anything else?"

"I don't think we need anything else, but if we do you probably know better than us." I said. "Thank you so much. We owe you our lives." I said, awed by his generosity. Caleb and Sylvia murmured their agreement.

"It was my pleasure. Farewell, and good luck." he turned and sprinted into the forest. We watched him go, then turned and went into the trees, far enough to get away from the smoke.

"Wow," said Caleb, "He is so different from Riley. I think he genuinely cares what happens to us."

"That's a first," I agreed. "I wonder why he had to leave in such a hurry?"

"The others will notice he's missing soon, and he is a doctor. Those howling noises probably meant one of the wolves got hurt- seriously hurt."

"That sounds about right." I nodded in agreement. A sense of giddiness came over me.

"Riley and Victoria are dead, and we aren't even close! We have freedom, like they said we would!" I crowed, and Sylvia laughed. I took her hands and we danced in a circle for a moment while Caleb watched, laughing.

 **A/N: A quick note on the title of the story- this story doesn't contain any sci-fi space material or anything like that. 'Satellite' is sort of another word for 'moon,' because I wanted to stick with the theme of time/space related titles.**

 **Thank you for reading so far!**


	6. Chapter 5

We were high up in a tree when we first noticed the sky beginning to lighten. We had spent the night discussing what Carlisle had told us and what Sylvia had seen in the memories of the various people in the clearing. She hadn't seen everything, she hadn't had time, and she'd had to sort through irrelevant memories at the same time. It seemed like memories were the one thing she could not recall perfectly unless she made a conscious decision to keep a particular memory from someone's head. We had learned a lot, some things frightening us and others giving us hope. We spent lots of time discussing the Volturi, as we needed to be able to keep their laws to stay alive.

When the sun began to rise, we shrank back under the cover of the leaves out of habit. We trusted Carlisle more than Riley, and we had many memories of him and other vampires coming out in the daylight, certainly more than four times a year. We had confirmed that the vampires frozen in their teenage years really were attending high school, on days that weren't too sunny, and most of them had graduated several times already.

I glanced a Caleb and Sylvia. "Who wants to test it?" I asked.

"We all will." Caleb said. We remained in the tree, all of us facing east. If one of us were killed by the sun, we all would be. Slowly, the sun rose. I gaped in amazement. We had all seen a sunrise before, but only when we were human. Our memories were clouded, and now we were seeing it with our enhanced vampire vision. The sky lit up, and the clouds burned brilliant colors. Finally a few rays of direct sunlight reached us. I held up my hand in a futile attempt to shield myself, but the sun bounced harmlessly off my skin, reflecting a million tiny rainbows like the day before. I looked at the others and we grinned in relief.

"Should we go see if Carlisle left us anything?" I asked.

Sylvia giggled. "You make it sound like it's Christmas or something."

I laughed. "Another Christmas! June fifteenth. Mark your calendars. Our first day of freedom."

"Shouldn't it be a second independence day?" Caleb joked. I punched him lightly in the arm and swung down from the tree. We followed our scent from the day before back to the clearing. I made us invisible, just in case it was some sort of trap. We went to the remains of the bonfire, which was now nothing but ashes. We paid silent tribute to Bree and those who hadn't deserved to die. We spotted a hiking backpack on top of a rock and picked it up. We took it back under the cover of the trees and went through it. There was a four-man tent, a few sets of clothes for each of us, a hundred thousand dollars, a map, compass, and cell phone, though we would have to go somewhere else to find reception. There was also a slip of paper with a phone number on it- Carlisle's. I was touched by his generosity. Was he really the same species of vampire as the rest of us? As Riley and Victoria?

Luckily, Caleb knew how to use a map and compass, so we followed it back to Seattle. The scent our little army had left the day before helped too. We spent the rest of the day in the log house we had vacated. We agreed we could stay here a while, but not too long. There were too many bad memories associated with this place.

That night, we had to make another big decision: hunting. Would we go "vegetarian?" None of us were sure.

"Here's an idea." I said when we had the discussion. "We hunt in Seattle again tonight. We have to think about it while we do it. When we get back tomorrow morning, we will decide."

Caleb and Sylvia agreed it was a good plan.

"However," Caleb cautioned, "We have to be extra careful. We can't attack the whole city like Riley said. If anything, we have to be more careful than we were before because we're supposed to be dead. If we eventually decide not to go vegetarian, we have to move to a new city."

With that, we ran to Seattle. I pondered vegetarianism as we ran.

Would it really be worth it? There had to be a reason most vampires stuck with human blood. As far as we knew, there was no significant difference besides the taste and the fact that human blood made you stronger, but only barely.

I hunted the way I normally did, invisible, the first time, but decided to stop if I really wanted to see what it was like. The humans were helpless either way, and wouldn't see me coming. I found two homeless people, probably a couple, asleep. I took the first one almost silently. The woman heard, and either woke up or was awake all along. She stared at me in horror as I sank my teeth into the man's neck. The woman began to scream, but I quickly locked my jaws around her neck before she could. I thought about what she must have seen. I saw an image of myself, a pale-skinned, red-eyed vampire, extremely beautiful, but the same time drinking the blood of someone who had been her friend or possibly more. She had been helpless, frozen with fear, as she watched this creature from her nightmares. I finished her, suddenly repulsed by myself. How could I do this? How could I be such a monster? Even though these people lived homeless, they still had a life. I had none… or a second life. An undead life. An immortal life. How many short lives would I cut shorter in my long life? Was it worth it? Then I made my decision. I took the bodies and hid them in an old warehouse similar to the one had had hid bodies in when I was part of the newborn army. I ran back to the house and sat in a tree. We tended to spend a lot of time in trees. If we did become nomads, we might be a wandering coven anyway. The Treetop Coven.

Caleb arrived first, looking thoughtful. This was a fairly large decision we were making, even though we could change our minds any time. Sylvia arrived ten minutes later. We watched the sun rise again, then we turned to face each other. I was the first to break the silence.

"I'm going vegetarian." I announced. "I want to be more like Carlisle and the

other peaceful vampires."

"I'm with you, Kristi." Sylvia said. "I really thought about it for once while I hunted, and I felt horrible."

We looked at Caleb, who hesitated for a moment.

"You don't have to decide the same thing we do. If you continue to hunt humans, we won't hold it against you."

He nodded. "Thanks. I appreciate it, but I agree. Vegetarian."

I grinned. "Great, it helps make it easier if we all are committed. Here's to being good vampires!" We exchanged high fives.

"Should we let Carlisle know?" Sylvia asked.

"Maybe after we try it first. We could change our minds… except we won't." I said, glaring in mock sternness at the others.

"Let's wait a few days," Caleb suggested. "That way when we hunt we'll be thirsty, and it might make the transition easier."

We agreed. "Now what?" I asked. "What do we do all day now that we aren't concentrating on not having our arms ripped off?"

"I'm not sure." Sylvia admitted, mentally referring to the memories she had 'borrowed.' "The yellow-eyed coven, the Cullens, pretty much do ordinary things… watch TV, play games... sometimes. Games are harder when one member of the family reads minds and another sees the future. I guess they do physical games, too, like baseball or football, but they have to do it during thunderstorms because of all the noise they make." Sylvia smiled in amusement at the memory she was seeing. She put it into my mind the way she had switched Kristie and Raoul's memories. I saw a large field that I recognized as the clearing the battle had taken place in, and I saw the Cullen family playing baseball. The sound of the bat hitting the ball echoed off the mountains, sounding a lot like thunder. Two of the vampires raced for the ball, leaping into the air, and collided about twenty feet up with a terrible _crash._ Both were perfectly unharmed when they fell to the ground.

Then three people came into the clearing. They had a brief conversation with the yellow-eyes, and one of them noticed there was a human girl with them. Bella. The Cullens fled with her.

"What happens next?" I asked when the memory ended. "What happened to the three?"

Sylvia concentrated for a moment. "One of them left and joined another coven, but was later killed. The other male tracked down Bella and almost killed her, but Edward killed him. The female was his mate and…" Her eyes widened in surprise. "She's Victoria. She's the one who tried to kill Bella to get revenge on Edward… she's the one who created us."

I pulled up the memory again, looking at her more closely.

"What does she look like?" Caleb asked curiously.

"She has pale skin, red eyes, bright orange hair that looks like fire, and a high, girlish voice." I said. "She was introduced in the earlier memory but I didn't recognize her because it was so unexpected, and I've only heard her name a couple of times."

"So, what else do they do?" Caleb asked.

"They go to school, do homework, but homework usually takes all of three minutes because they are smarter than most of their teachers. I get the impression that school is really boring for them. Especially Physical Education." Sylvia continued. "Ouch. I don't know if I could hold back like that. They're very good at acting human."

"Once we get good at being vegetarian, we should be like that." I said. "It would be nice to pretend to fit into human society."

"But it's kinda hard for teenagers to have a decent life living on their own." Caleb said. "I'm seventeen."

"We're both sixteen," Sylvia said, "I know what you mean. We need a 'family' like they do."

"I'm not sure if I'm sixteen or seventeen." I interrupted. "I think my birthday passed during the transformation process. We were taken the day before my birthday, and I'm not sure when you stop counting." Sylvia grinned at me sympathetically.

"Why don't we go back?" Caleb asked. "They would probably be very welcoming to us."

"I don't know if they have any room." Sylvia said. "Physically, they have plenty, but they already have one of the largest covens in the world. Adding any more people could make the humans suspicious of them. At school, they claim three of them are adopted and two are twins belonging to Esme's sister, like foster children."

"Plus, we're newborns, and not controlled yet." I pointed out. "I get the feeling the girl Bella spends a lot of time with them, and she's got seriously sweet blood. If we were thirsty when she's around…" I didn't finish the sentence.

"Okay, you're right." Caleb admitted. "It would just be nice to stay with someone who really understands what is going on and can help us."

"I know… we'll just have to do our best. On the bright side, the sooner we have this vegetarianism down, the sooner we can go visit." I pointed out.

"How long do you think we should wait before we can try hunting?" Sylvia asked. I thought about it for a moment.  
"The last time we went hunting was two nights ago… we've gone three nights at most before, Caleb's gone six. I think we should wait two more nights." I suggested. "That way, even if animal blood is gross, we won't really care because we're so thirsty. We'll get used to it eventually."

"I think I could go longer," Caleb said, "I just haven't had a chance to push it yet."

"I guess we'll find out… and let's stay here until we get used to it." Sylvia said. "We really don't want to hang out near humans. This way, the only way we'll hunt people is if we find an extremely lost hiker or deliberately go far enough to find people. If we stay in the area we'll be fine." Sylvia reasoned.


	7. Chapter 6

The next two days passed uneventfully, except for a few minor snarlings at each other out of thirst. My throat seriously burned. I felt bad for the people who had already been thirsty before being forced to train for three days. We played a few games, but there weren't many physical three-player games, and mentally we were too thirsty to concentrate on playing with cards or board games. Over the course of the two days, we overcame our fear of the sun completely, though I was still often dazzled by the light reflecting off of my friends during the short amounts of time the sun shone through the clouds.

Finally, the sun began to set on the second day, and we began our hunt. We searched the forest for fifteen minutes, looking for a desirable scent. I found a few that were probably deer, but they didn't smell great, even in my thirsty state. I noticed Sylvia had eyes that were darker than usual. When Riley hadn't been hunting for a while, his eyes would turn black, but generally the rest of ours stayed vivid red no matter how thirsty we were. It might have changed a little, but I generally tried not to make eye contact with anyone besides Sylvia, Caleb, and occasionally Riley. To do so might bring on an unwanted fight, especially if the vampire in question was thirsty. But now I noticed the minute difference.

I found the scent of a couple of deer, but they smelled fairly gross. I hoped not all animals smelled like this, or at least tasted better than they smelled. I tracked them for a minute before I found a different trail. It smelled much better, so I changed direction and followed it instead. I went up a couple of trees and through a small stream, then spent a few seconds finding the scent again on the other side. After a few minutes, I found a mountain lion padding almost silently through the trees. It would have been silent to any human. The wind shifted, and the lion tensed, catching my scent. It turned and growled at me. My throat burned, and I slipped into hunting mode, growling back. It sprang at me, claws scratching through my shirt. It certainly put up a better fight than any human I had hunted, but I still won easily, sinking my teeth into its neck. I gulped the blood, grimacing a little at the taste, but pleased to find it soothed my burning throat as well as any human blood. I got up and examined myself. I had a little bit of fur on my shirt, and one of the sleeves was nearly torn off, but I was fine. The lion's razor sharp claws had been insufficient to break my stonelike skin. My throat still burned a little, but it felt better. I decided to hunt some more, and I listened, hoping to find clues faster. I closed my eyes and heard far-off roaring noises. Probably a bear, but not a very happy one. That didn't matter, it wouldn't be able to hurt me. I ran in the direction of the noise, arriving in less than a minute. I found out why the bear was angry. It was clawing at Caleb. He noticed me and waved before lunging for the bear's throat. I stayed back until he finished. He got up and looked at my clawed and bloody shirt.

"I take it you ate?" He said.

"Yep. Mountain lion. I'm still thirsty, though."

He nodded. "I think this bear was hunting something before I attacked it. Smells like a couple of deer. Want to join me?"

"Sure," I agreed. It wasn't as hazardous hunting animals with other vampires, because they didn't smell so good they overruled all your senses. We ran for a minute before spotting them- it was actually three deer.

"You can have the extra." Caleb said as we watched them graze.

"You go ahead, you found the bear that found them. They're rightfully yours." I replied.

"No, that was luck, and besides, a mountain lion is a lot smaller than a bear." he insisted.

"Thanks." I replied, and we lunged. The deer bolted, but we were much faster than they were. I took down the first one a moment before Caleb got the second. It didn't taste as good as the lion had, the flavor was a little off, but it still was satisfying. After it went dry, I caught up to the third deer in five seconds. My throat finally stopped burning altogether.

"I'd say our first vegetarian hunt was a success." I said, giving Caleb a high five. But instead of bouncing his hand off, he slipped his fingers through mine. I looked at him with mixed feelings of confusion, suspicion, and excitement.

"You know…" he said, "When I kissed you after you saved my life, I was grateful and all of that, but you saving my life was just an excuse."

My mouth went dry. "Oh?" I was immensely grateful that it was impossible to blush. He probably was too.

"Umm… I didn't mind." I stuttered. He seemed to relax and get tenser at the same time. Relaxed because he hadn't upset me, tense because it made him a little nervous that I had been fine with it.

"Really?" he said cautiously.

"Well… Sylvia and I had found each other and were starting to run away. Then I turned around and saw those wolves standing over you… and I decided I didn't want you to die."

"Thanks."

I grinned nervously. "Not really like that. I mean…I've seen lots of vampires die. But this time I wouldn't have been okay with it, with leaving you… maybe whether you died or not. But I really couldn't let you die. It was instinctive. I don't think Sylvia noticed I was going until I wasn't there anymore."

"Thanks… I think I kinda felt the same way when Raoul attacked you, it was instinctive… but I didn't know you as well then as you know me now, so I took a moment to realize it. Funny… well, actually, not funny at all. I had a friend, Jack, who got torched by Raoul. I could have saved him, but I didn't, I was terrified, frozen. And then I go and rescue an almost total stranger, even though I was just as scared as before."

"Raoul did mention burning Jack." I said, remembering that night.

Caleb frowned. "He did, didn't he? I guess that's the reason I started paying attention in the first place. But I got distracted and that seemed like a minor detail when Raoul grabbed you. I was too busy trying to figure out exactly why I felt the need to save you… and what it means now."

"So… why did you do it? Why did you notice me in the first place? Why are we here now?" I said, almost whispering.

"Kristi, I…" he choked for a moment. "I think you know why."

My heart would have been pounding if it were still capable of beating. The absence of it now, when it should be there, made the forest sound eerily silent. Caleb stared at me, not breathing. I stared into his eyes, noting they weren't so red anymore. More of a red-orange.

"You know…" I began, my voice sounding a little off. "I wonder if it's the same reason I saved you."

He frowned, as if he was unsure how to reply. His statement had been fairly clear, but he could think I had misinterpreted it and found some other magical reason we had saved each other.

To clarify, I leaned forward and quickly kissed him on the cheek. If I had still been human, my face would have been on fire. I had never done anything like that before in my life, including the human portion.

His eyes widened for a moment, in surprise, relief, and joy. He kissed me back, quickly, not pushing his luck.

"You sure?" he checked.

"Meaning?" I asked. He shrugged, uncertain what he meant as well.

"In case you didn't understand my reply… I love you too." I said.

He grinned. "Okay. I love you. First, even though I didn't say those words specifically."

"Cheater." I accused. But inside, I felt lighter than air.

Caleb tilted his head to the side. "I hear another bear… want to go get it?"

"Sure," I agreed, "Let's head back."

As we leapt from tree to tree, Caleb called, "What are you going to tell Sylvia?"

I frowned. "I'm not really sure. Probably nothing. If she gets curious, she'll just fish the memory out of my head."

"Why not just hide your head?"

"It's not like this is some major secret, and besides, if I do she'll get suspicious and take advantage of the first moment I let my guard down."

"True." he agreed. We continued our running and leaping until we spotted the bear. It was sticking its paw in a river, trying to catch some sort of fish.

"You take the bear." Caleb whispered while we were still about fifty feet away.

"Again, you found it." I hissed under my breath. He smiled.

"True… but I'm curious what fish taste like."

I sighed. "Fine. You win. After this, though, I'll be completely full. You get whatever we find next. No backs."

"Alright." he agreed. I leapt to a branch directly over the oblivious bear's head. I couldn't help but feel amused at the difference being a vampire made. If I were human…

I dropped onto the bear's neck, sinking my teeth into it before the bear noticed what was happening. My neatest animal kill so far, which was amusing considering it was a bear. I finished, thirst totally quenched, then watched Caleb. There was a flash of motion where he stuck his hand in the river and pulled it out, now with a large fish in it. He bit into it, and it lasted about two seconds.

"How is it?" I asked.

"A little better than the deer, much worse than the bear, and yet completely different. And small."

"Huh. I'll have to try that later."

He caught a few more and then we started to head back through the trees towards the house. We followed our scent back, and after a couple of minutes running I smelled a deer, this time only one. I hopped off our trail through the trees.

"All yours." I said, gesturing towards it. Caleb dropped to the ground and stalked it on all fours. When he was about ten feet away, the doe's head came up. She swiveled her big ears around, trying to hear Caleb, but he was still. When her head turned towards him, he sprang. His skin sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight and I watched, mesmerized, as he flew through the air. He was even more beautiful in the sunlight. He was amazing hunting, he was strong, graceful. He rejoined me after a few seconds, his eyes now a slightly lighter orangey color. He noticed me staring at him and he smiled to himself.

"Should we go now?"

"Uh-huh." I agreed, mumbling. Caleb almost laughed. We turned and followed our trail back to the house. Sylvia was waiting.

"There you are!" she said, smiling. "How did it go?"

"It was good. I got a bear, a mountain lion, and two deer." I said, once again glad I was unable to blush.

"I also got a bear and two deer, but I tried fish."

"How was that?" Sylvia asked curiously.

"Better than the deer, worse than the bear, and yet small and completely different." He used almost the same description he had given me.

"That makes sense." Sylvia said. "They're not mammals, after all."

Caleb nodded, considering her statement. "Yes, I suppose their blood was much cooler too. Cold-blooded and all."

"Urgh. Sounds unappetizing, cold blood." I commented.

"Anyway, I was planning on sending Carlisle a text as soon as you got back. Is this good?"

She showed us the phone, which said

 _We're going Vegetarian. Just finished our first hunt. Hope the Volturi haven't given you any trouble over us._  
"That's good." I agreed. Caleb nodded, and Sylvia pressed the _send_ button.

"When do you think he'll reply?" I asked.

"I have no idea… doctors are probably busy. Especially vampire doctors, the whole enhanced-senses is really helpful. I still don't get how he can help patients even who are bleeding." Sylvia said, looking through the memories she had gotten.

"Wait, he can help patients with fresh blood?" Caleb interrupted. "I was under the impression he could work with humans, but stays away from the blood thing."

"Nope, he does it all. He's a good surgeon too."

"Wow." I said.

"He has never drunk the blood of a human, not even as a newborn." Sylvia said.

I shook my head in amazement. It was like this yellow-eyed clan tried to deny their very nature as vampires. They were aware of the fact, and took advantage of their gifts, but they still tried to be human.

The phone buzzed. We had gotten a message back.

 _Good luck. Hopefully soon you will gain enough control to be near humans, though perhaps not for an extended length of time yet. We are in control, but the youngest member of our family has been immortal for sixty years. Most of us have made mistakes. Where are you currently staying?_

I looked around, not sure how to answer the question. I wasn't sure if this place had an address.

"Here," Caleb suggested, "Why don't we use the GPS to stick in our coordinates?"

We put them in, adding

 _We are staying at one of the houses we lived in as an army. It's the farthest one away from humans, we think, and the only one not burned to the ground. The only way we could come across humans is if we deliberately ran the long distance towards the city._

After another minute, we got a reply.

 _Good, it will help being farther away. On a different note, Edward and Bella are getting married. I thought you would be interested to know._

We sent back a reply.

 _Really? Is she still human?_

He replied

 _Yes, but Edward will transform her shortly after the wedding. In a way, the wedding is a way to say goodbye to her human friends and family. It won't be safe for her to be around them for several years, and even then they would notice she is different and not aging._

"Huh." I said in response to the latest message. "I never thought of that… My human family must think I'm dead."

"Maybe we could visit them sometime." Sylvia consoled me.

I shook my head. "No, even if I didn't try to drink their blood, they would still notice I'm different. It would freak them out. It might be better for them to think I'm dead."

Sylvia didn't say anything, but I could tell she disliked the idea. I agreed that it felt wrong to let my family suffer when I was fine, but it honestly might be worse for them if they found I was alive, but changed.

Or would it?

I wandered downstairs and picked up one of the few books I had not read yet. I would run out of things to do soon. Yet another reason to learn control as soon as possible- to be able to find things to do. It could get a little boring when one had almost nothing new to do and the day was nearly twice as long- we couldn't sleep to pass the time, of course. And we couldn't pass time traveling the way non-vegetarian nomads would. There was too much of a chance we would come upon humans.

I sighed and opened the book to the first page.


	8. Chapter 7

The month passed slowly. We continued hunting in the forests around us, but less and less, trying to build up our endurance. We got used to the new diet, and missed the taste of human blood less and less. Of course, that could change when we came across actual humans.

We generally hunted together- a feat that would have been nearly impossible if we had remained on the diet of human blood. Most days, even if I hadn't hunted in a week, I could sit patiently and not attack anyone while they drank. But one day it got a little tense- Sylvia and I had gone an entire week without hunting for the first time, and Caleb had gone a week and a half. He found a couple of deer, and Sylvia and I crept forward. He was feasting on one and the other was dead on the ground. Caleb growled softly and Sylvia backed off, but I continued forward. Instead of attacking the way we normally would, he glared at me a little then ignored me as I took the second deer. The blood soothed my throat and cleared my head. I looked up, and Sylvia was clearly confused and maybe hurt.

I ran off to continue hunting, towards a stream that was a useful hunting tool for us. We had realized that all animals needed to drink water, and would come over to the stream often. There were lots of scent trails to follow if we went up and down the bank, and we could pick and choose which we wanted to follow. I found a fresh mountain lion trail, and followed it for about half a mile. I realized I was actually following two- my lucky day. I killed them and drained the first, then picked up the second and took it to Sylvia, who was a couple miles away tracking her own prey.

"Sylvia." I called her name softly, she would hear me easily. It was never a good idea to startle a thirsty, hunting vampire. She turned and looked at me and the lion in confusion.

"Here, I found this for you." I offered. "Sorry about earlier."

She grinned at me. "Thanks." Once she had finished, she turned back to me. "What _was_ that about earlier, anyway?"

"Um… I'm not completely sure." I had a small idea, but I wasn't sure about it.

"Okay…" Sylvia looked at me, concentrating on something.

"Oh no!" I yelped, hiding my mind as I realized what she was trying to do. She grinned.

"I thought so… C'mon, let me see. Or tell me. Or something."

I groaned in defeat and lowered the defenses hiding my mind. Sylvia was silent for a minute as she went through my memories, then she laughed.

"You and Caleb, huh? Aren't you going a little fast?"

"Considering the fact that I don't know any other available vegetarian vampires, and the fact that we have both saved each others' lives, not really. You're not upset?" I checked, relieved.

Sylvia leaned against a tree and rolled her eyes,which were now fading into a yellow-orange color.

"Of course not. As your best friend, it's part of the agreement that I support you through all the drama that comes with school, home, boyfriends, etcetera, unless I think you're making a bad choice and I try to talk you out of it. Besides, Caleb's not really my type anyway. No jealousy or anything."

I threw my arms around her. "Thank you so much." I said.

"That's what best friends are for… and besides, this shouldn't upset me considering everything else that has happened to us… and against all odds, we stayed together and stayed alive."

"It's nice being alive." I agreed. "Now, what were you tracking before I found you?"

"Bobcat. I was so thirsty I wasn't really picky about the size. I'll catch it and then we can try the stream." she suggested. I followed close behind her as we sprinted through the woods, then waited patiently as she made her kill. Then we ran to the stream and searched for scent trails. We hunted for another hour before returning. We found Caleb waiting for us.

"I'm sorry, Sylvia!" he blurted out. "I wasn't thinking."

Sylvia smiled to herself. "It's okay, we all go crazy when we're thirsty. It's not a big deal."

"Thanks." he said. I flashed Sylvia a smile- it was fairly impressive she had acted completely normal after learning the reason for his behavior. She really was supportive. I'd never had the chance to test it before, as I hadn't met any human boys I really liked. But then again, being changed into a vampire and surviving a few months in an army of crazy newborn vampires definitely could have put things in perspective, as Sylvia had pointed out.

We were increasing the amount of time between hunts by two days each time. A couple weeks later we went a week and two days between hunts. My throat _burned_. I wondered if pushing it this way helped us gain control. I guess it taught us to be patient and not to drink whenever we wanted. It might be harder to be in control if we got used to giving in whenever we wanted. I commented on this while we were hunting, after coming across three deer.

Sylvia laughed. "I've kind of wondered the same thing. I heard when you're stuck in the desert and you have water, you'll stay better hydrated by taking it when you want it instead of when you're dying of thirst. I'm not sure if it's really true, cuz we don't exactly have any deserts around here." She gestured at the mist-shrouded pines.

"I don't think it works that way for vampires, but nice try." Caleb said. "Vampires are supposed to be able to go a while between hunts, and even if they wait months in between, they don't starve, the pain just gets worse. Humans can go three days without water."

Sylvia nodded. "Of course, we wouldn't want to go months without hunting. The yellow-eyes don't push it, they do about two weeks between hunts."

"Um, Sylvia," I began, "Maybe you should start referring to them as 'the Cullens' not 'the yellow-eyes'... It's a little hypocritical." I eyed Caleb- no pun intended. I heard the heartbeat of a single deer. I could tell the others heard it too.

"Caleb, you get the deer." I said. "You're the oldest and I want to check something."

He shrugged and disappeared into the trees. He returned a minute later, and sure enough, his eyes were a light amber color.

"Whoa." Sylvia said. "Yeah, that's kind of hypocritical now." She looked at my eyes, and I looked at hers. They were darker than Caleb's, as he had just had two deer and we each had had one, and ours still had the faintest hint of red in them. I got the feeling it would go away by the next time we hunted.

We continued through the forest for another minute and the wind shifted. I sniffed the air, hopeful that the change would bring new scents our way to track. I smelled the very thing I had tried to avoid in over a month- a beautiful smell, mouthwatering, and painful. I glimpsed it through the trees. I slid into a crouch, now hunting. I darted forward, and heard a _crash_ as Sylvia and Caleb collided with me. They pinned my arms to my sides and tried to break free, but there were two of them and only one of me. Neither of them were breathing.

"Let me go!" I snarled at them angrily. Caleb shook his head.

"Clear your mind." Sylvia whispered frantically. "Remember what we've been working for the past month."

Caleb put his hand over my nose and mouth and the two of them ran for about a mile before setting me on the ground, but they remained in crouches, ready to restrain me again. I took a deep breath, ready to yell at them some more, but the fresh air washed the scent away. I took a few more deep breaths, calming down.

"Sorry, guys." I said sheepishly. They relaxed their ready positions. "I feel terrible. That was close."

"It's alright, it was bound to happen sometime." Caleb reassured me.

"Yes, it was, but the point is you two held your breath and kept your heads. I went crazy."

"You just smelled it first. It took you by surprise. We were breathing normally, and realized what was going on, but you deliberately took a deep breath. It's okay." Sylvia said.

I sighed, frustrated with myself. "I thought we were getting better at this. We still have a long way to go, and I'm getting sick of this place."

The others said nothing. I knew they were obviously tired of this place too, but they honestly didn't blame me. It didn't stop me from blaming myself.

"Let's finish and head home." I said. "But tomorrow we should check to see if he's still here. We'll have to be really careful."

Our hunt was more subdued than usual, as we thought about what had happened. It was too close. We would have to wait a while before leaving this place.

That night I sat up in a tree, looking at the stars. I did it often these days, without much else to do at night. We would hunt at night sometimes, but we now did it just as often during the day. I wondered if the man was camping out there, or if he had gone home. The thought that he could remain did not make me thirsty- my head was perfectly clear away from the scent. What would happen if he was still here and I did smell him made me nervous. I couldn't give in or make mistakes, not now.

I heard the soft sounds of someone gracefully climbing my tree- Caleb. I smiled at him sadly then went back to gazing at the stars right above the horizon.

Caleb took my hand. "You know we're not mad at you about earlier." he murmured.

I sighed. "I know. I'm just afraid it will happen again, and you won't be there to hold me back."

"Honestly," Caleb protested, "It could have been any of us. You're not weak, you're just as strong as we are. Stronger, maybe. You just happened to get the full blast of it when you inhaled."

I moved closer to him on the branch and put my head on his shoulder. "You sure?"

"Absolutely. When we go looking for him tomorrow to see if he's left the area, you'll be the one holding us back. You were taken by surprise."

"I'm a vampire. I don't get surprised." I said, but I was smiling a little. "Thanks. I needed to hear that."

"Anytime." Caleb said. We sat for a few minutes, watching a satellite make its way across the starry sky.

"But about earlier… a week or so ago, actually. The two-deer-three-thirsty-vampires incident. What does Sylvia actually think?" Caleb asked softly.

"She knows why you did it. She's fine with it."

"Really?"

"It's part of the standard agreement for the whole best friends thing. Besides, she's never really felt that way about you."

Caleb smiled in relief. "That's good. She's a smart, amazing, sweet, beautiful vampire, but I've never really felt that way about her either. You're even smarter, more amazing, and more beautiful." He kissed me softly on top of my head. I shivered- it was the first time he'd done something like that since we'd tried vegetarian hunting the first time. We sat together, watching the stars slowly cross the sky.


	9. Chapter 8

Sylvia swung up into the tree as the sun rose. She noticed Caleb and me sitting together watching, but said nothing about it.

"Are you ready?" Sylvia asked. "Do we want to do this now, or later?"

I took a deep breath. "Now. If we wait, we'll just make ourselves more anxious about it and we'll lose focus. I'm ready."

"Again, this has nothing to do with you personally." Sylvia reminded me. "It was a complete coincidence. We all need to be ready. I'm ready. Caleb?"

He nodded. "Let's go. But I suggest we hunt on the way, to make this as easy as possible."

We climbed down. It would have been a little faster and easier to drop, but there were too many branches in the way. We followed our trail from the day before, making a quick detour to hunt a few deer. Soon I recognized where we were.

"This is where we smelled the human yesterday." I warned. "We'll come across the trail soon."

"Let's take turns tracking so we don't become overwhelmed." Caleb suggested. "Those who aren't tracking will stop breathing and will tackle the tracker if necessary. I'll go first."

"Let's walk at a human pace." Sylvia added. "That way we'll be able to stop before we get too close."

I took a deep breath and I heard Sylvia do the same beside me. Caleb started forward, breathing shallowly through his nose. He walked forward cautiously, alert. We followed him for five minutes on what seemed like some sort of trail before he turned to me.

"Your turn. Don't worry, it doesn't burn much because we just had the deer. Do it as long as you can handle it. I'll be back, I just want to get the scent out of my system before I follow you." He sprinted into the trees and returned a minute later. I took a cautious breath, immediately relieved to have my sense of smell back, but also feeling a small burn in my throat at the scent of the human. I could handle it. My head was clear. I walked forward for a few minutes, checking the burn in my throat and my thoughts constantly. I wasn't looking forward to tasting the human yet, I was still afraid. That was good.

"Would it be alright if we went a little faster?" I suggested once I was sure I wasn't trying to hunt. "We don't know how far this human could have gone."

Sylvia nodded, and Caleb made the OK gesture with his hand. I sped up a little, going the pace a human would running. If humans could run this trail, that is. After five more minutes my throat started to burn a little more, and I was thinking about the human in a bad way. I stopped.

"Your turn." I said to Sylvia before sprinting into the woods. I took a couple deep breaths of clean air and cleared my mind before returning. Sylvia started slowly, then we returned to our previous pace. Our turns lasted about five minutes each. Caleb took , and I had just started my second when I spotted something orange in the woods. It was a small one-man tent.

I turned to the others and gestured towards the tent. They nodded- they could see it too. I jerked my head to the woods behind us. We turned to leave, but before we could a man came into view. He was probably in his thirties, he had dark hair and eyes. I quickly turned toward Sylvia and inhaled, so all I could smell was the sweet smell of vampire. I hoped the one breath would be good enough to get us away from here.

The man turned toward us and smiled in a friendly way. "Hello, how are you?"

"Fine, thank you." Sylvia said. Her voice was a little strained from nervousness. "What brings you here? I don't know of any major campsites or hiking trails in this area."

The man shrugged. "I could ask the same of you. I take it you know this area well?"

"Yes, you could say that." Caleb said.

"I'm Clint, by the way." The man continued.

"I'm Caleb." Caleb said. "This is Kristi and Sylvia."

"Hi." I said.

"So where are you from?" Clint asked.

"We're from Seattle. We're camping here as a wilderness survival sort of thing. Why are you here?"

"The same… but I'm a little lost actually. There was a small trail, but I think I've lost it. I didn't want to have to call anyone, though. Could you give directions?"

The wind suddenly blew the the man's scent away from us. We all took grateful breaths of the fresh air.

"Do you have a map?" I asked. The sooner we could get him out of here, the better. It was frightening to think this man was almost literally looking death in the face, and he had no idea.

He walked back to his tent and went inside.

 _Do we run for it?_ Caleb mouthed, not breathing in or out.

 _No. That would be rude._ Sylvia replied.

I would have busted up laughing at her reply if the situation wasn't so serious. Even so, I cracked a smile.

 _Sylvia, you're sweet and awesome, but you have to learn to take a step back and look at the big picture. Would you rather he think us rude, or would you rather put his life at risk?_ I moved my mouth silently. Sylvia frowned, and then chuckled. I sniggered, accidentally taking a tiny breath. She realized her mistake at the same time. Caleb's smile disappeared and he eyed us warily. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. The fresh human scent burned, but our heads stayed clear. We were not hunting. I took another tiny breath, experimenting. It burned a little more.

 _Feel free to tackle me if I go too far._ I mouthed to Caleb and Sylvia. They nodded, watching tensed as I took a deeper breath. I winced- my throat burned, and the smell was so sweet, promising to heal the burn. I concentrated on not letting Caleb and Sylvia down, and breathed evenly. I gave them a thumbs up and they grinned.

The man came back out of the tent, holding a map. He looked down at it as he stepped toward us- not seeing the muddy spot he stepped in. He slipped, and I stayed frozen, unsure whether to flee or help. He got up off the ground and the smell hit me full force- he was bleeding.

I immediately stopped all air coming into my lungs. My human instincts told me to calm down and take deep breaths, but my vampire brain said _Are you crazy? Run for it!_ My vampire instincts, of course, wanted me to lunge forward and take him. I could do it- Caleb and Sylvia were surprised enough by the turn of events that they wouldn't catch me until it was too late. They might even try to join me. I groaned. I quickly inhaled through my hands over my mouth so most of the smell was masked by vampire.

"Are you okay?" I managed to choke out. Perhaps treating him like a person would help me hold back.

"I'm fine, just scraped my knee. It's not a big deal, I have a first-aid kit in my tent."

I glanced at him warily. Sure enough, there was a small scratch on his knee. No more than a drop or two of blood had come out. I glanced back at Sylvia and Caleb. Neither were breathing, but both were very tense. Sylvia was gripping Caleb's arm in a way that would break the bones in a normal person's arm, and Caleb had his hands clenched into fists at his sides. Both had their eyes averted to keep from seeing the blood and attacking.

The man seemed to notice something was wrong. "Are you alright?" he asked uncertainly. "Honestly, I'm fine."

My head raced for an explanation that might make a little sense. "All three of us faint at the sight and smell of blood." I said. The man raised an eyebrow. "We have sensitive noses. Figures, right?" I tried to look woozy, not ravenous, but I'm not sure if I pulled it off. I didn't really care. I grabbed the closest tree branch to stop myself from going anywhere. The branch snapped.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea." the man apologized. I almost rolled my eyes. He had no need to apologize, he was only inches away from death. He turned back to his tent and I looked away as he bandaged his knee. It blocked the smell just a little, and it hid the sight of it, which helped. I picked up the map he had dropped, which helped to distract me. I examined it, glad that Caleb had shown us exactly how it worked. I recognized a nearby landmark and used it to estimate where we were. I looked closer and saw there was indeed one small trail, small enough not to be noted on most maps.

The man finished and walked to my side. My throat burned. He was less than a foot away from me, examining the map. His throat was right there… I felt the haze of hunting begin to come over me, but I forced it back, thinking of Caleb and Sylvia behind me, watching anxiously and hungrily. I had to make this fast.

"You're about here." I told the man, pointing. "The trail is over here. You need to go that direction-" I pointed into the trees- "For about a mile. Even if you're a little bit off, you should still hit the trail. Once you hit the trail, go right." I gasped, trying to go as fast as possible but still go slow enough for the human to understand. The man checked the map and a look of understanding came across his face.

"Oh, I see. Thank you very much. Will I be able to see you again?"

"No, we wandered pretty far from our campsite. How much longer are you staying?"

Of course we wouldn't return. It was bad enough to risk his life for two days in a row.

"A day at the most." he said. "Maybe I'll leave today. I have to leave soon enough that I don't forget the direction you pointed me in." He said, smiling. He held out his hand and I shook it, concentrating on not breaking any of his fragile bones. He winced a little- I had forgotten our hands were much colder than his.

"Goodbye, Clint." I said, turning back to Caleb and Sylvia. They grinned back and waved at him, and he waved in return. We walked into the trees, and after we had gone fifty feet we broke into a sprint. About a mile away, we stopped, and took deep breaths of fresh air. It was such a relief.

"That was definitely a mistake." I said. Caleb and Sylvia laughed.

"Definitely… but you were amazing, Kristi!" Sylvia exclaimed.

"You actually managed to hold a conversation with a bleeding human… and he was only a foot away from you!" Caleb shook his head in amazement and admiration. "You have some serious control, Kristi."

"Thanks." I said, pleased. "You didn't do bad yourself. How many six-month-old vampires could watch someone else hold a conversation with a bleeding human?"

"Fair point, we were all pretty good. But you were something else." Caleb said.

"Oh, c'mon, I'm sure you could have done it just fine. I just happened to be closest. And you did talk to him earlier before he started bleeding."

"We are pretty amazing." Sylvia agreed.

"Now that we've had this test, we should see Carlisle." I suggested.

Sylvia frowned. "No. We might attack the Bella girl. We should have another test first… maybe in Seattle."

I shook my head. "Wouldn't that be too close to what we used to do? It might bring out the hunting instincts in us."

"So would going near the girl." Caleb interjected. "But she's got really sweet blood. Before trying to handle her, let's check with people who are more likely to have normal blood."

His suggestion made sense. "But what if we come across someone bleeding?"

"We'll be ready for it." Sylvia answered. "It's the only way to find out if we can really do this. I'm sick of this place. Let's move on."

"Okay." I agreed. "Let's do it tomorrow night. We'll spend tomorrow hunting."

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed so far. The next chapter is going to be... interesting. (cackles evilly and presses the submit button)**


	10. Chapter 9

I dropped the drained elk, Beside me, Caleb and Sylvia finished as well. The sun was beginning to set.

"Now?" I asked. "Now." Caleb confirmed. We ran back to the house, where we checked the phone for any last-minute message indicating we should continue to stay away from humans. We had texted Carlisle to tell him of the incident the day before, but he hadn't told him about tonight. He hadn't replied yet.

Sylvia grabbed the money Carlisle had left us and put it into her pocket. If we really were successful, perhaps we could do some shopping. Now that we were able to, it would be best to buy things legally.

We ran in the direction of Seattle as the sun disappeared over the mountains. We soon arrived on top of a mountain where we could see the lights of the city. We paused for a moment, looking at our old home. Now that we were returning, how many people would we kill? We were confident that we could remain in control. There was no way we could do this otherwise. Even so, we had spent all day hunting. We had drunk more than we ever had before, except for maybe the time Riley had let us loose on the boat. Even the memory of all that human blood couldn't make my throat burn. It did make my mouth water, though.

We ran down into the city. The plan was to creep around for a bit, get used to the smell, then to go to a park for a bit where there would probably be one or two people. If we could handle that, we'd go a bit deeper. If we could handle that, we might find a store still open and get some new entertainment. If at any point it became too much, we'd run out of the city as fast as we could, taking a route that hopefully wouldn't contain too many humans.

We walked down a dark street. The smell of humans was old- nobody had been here in at least a week. My throat didn't burn at all. We came to a park- the same one we had been to when we first met up. We stuck together, in a group, in order to restrain each other. There was a homeless man asleep on a bench. I gestured to make sure the others were aware. They nodded. I took a cautious breath. The smell of human hit my nose smelling as good as ever, but it didn't burn. As we walked around the park, a drop of water hit my head. Within a few seconds it was downpouring. I frowned- the rain made everything smell stronger. Including the homeless person, who pulled a tarp over himself, completely used to this happening. We slipped into the streets around the park and wandered up and down the dark alleyways. The human smell here was a little more recent, someone had been here in the past day.

After a minute, we came across another sleeping person. I inhaled again- still no burn. It looked like we would be fine making the occasional foray into the city as long as we hunted first. The humans smelled good, but we could handle it. No problem. I turned to Caleb and Sylvia.

"You guys okay?"

Sylvia nodded. "No burn or anything. We should go deeper- find a store or something before this wears off."

Caleb nodded and we turned, heading in deeper. After a minute a car passed us on a street. Another minute we came across a small gas station with a store open 24 hours a day. Caleb opened the door and we went in. I looked around- most of the merchandise was food. Not helpful. I found a few T-shirts, and we grabbed them. Ours were pretty battered. There were a couple books as well. It wouldn't last us long, but this was sort of a test run. If we didn't kill anybody, maybe we could try again somewhere else. We brought it up to the counter and the worker eyed us, not used to beautiful homeless people in his store. Sylvia pulled out a few of the smaller bills Carlisle had given us and handed them to the cashier. It felt a little odd to be making ordinary contact with humans like this after so long hunting them or avoiding them. I'm not sure if the lost hiker thing counted as ordinary. We stepped back outside into the pouring rain.

"Do we go back or go deeper?" Caleb asked once we were out.

"Let's end on a good note." Sylvia suggested. "I'm starting to feel the burn come back. It's only barely noticeable, but I don't want to push our luck."

We went down a different street than we had to get here, now a little more confident, but still wary. We approached the door of an abandoned building where a smallish human was hunched under the eaves to stay out of the rain. We were soaking, but it made no difference to us because we could no longer get cold. Caleb was in the lead and walked past the person. Sylvia followed him. I was right behind her, but as I walked by the human looked up and met my gaze. He froze. I froze. I heard his heart stutter, and Caleb and Sylvia did too, turning around.

"Kristi-" Caleb warned, afraid I was about to attack. Sylvia saw the face of the boy and froze as well. Caleb looked at the three of us in confusion. All of this happened in two seconds, and I only noticed the others in the back of my mind. I stared at the boy's young, familiar face, his blond hair messy, and shadows under his blue eyes that were filled with shock.

"Kristi?" he whispered. His voice was from a different lifetime.

"Brandon." I whispered, too frozen with shock to say anything else. The boy leapt to his feet and threw his arms around me, sobbing. My breath hitched in my throat. Was this the vampire equivalent of crying? I didn't even flinch from the close contact with the human. But Caleb did.

"Careful!" he said. "What is going on?"

I shook my head, unable to reply. Sylvia answered his question for me.

"That's Brandon… Kristi's little brother."

"...Oh." Caleb said, surprised. "Is that safe?"

Sylvia frowned, worried. "I think so. I'm not sure. I barely feel a burn, I think she's handling it. As long as she doesn't crush him."

Memories flooded through my mind. They were dark, fuzzy, from my human life. In the back of my mind, Sylvia's words registered. I wasn't thirsty, but I could crush him. My cold, hard skin probably freaked him out, but he didn't let go. I gently pulled him off of me and held him at arm's length.

"What happened to you?" I asked. He smiled sadly. "I could ask the same… But yeah, a lot has happened."

"Why are you here? You should be at home. This isn't safe." I said.

"I know. I've been living like this for a few days."

"Days?" I hissed. "What happened?"

"Well… first you disappeared. Of course, we all assumed you were dead. The murders and such going on...we thought you were victims. Your names might have shown up in the paper." Sylvia and I winced. Yes, we had been victims. Only we were a few of the lucky victims who became the murderers.

"Of course, we were all really upset." Brandon took a shaky breath. "Things started to get a little better after a few months. We were coping with it for a few weeks… and then a few days ago Mom and Dad were driving up to Forks to visit a friend or something. They got into a car crash and got stuck at the hospital there. Then it was just too much… I ran away."

I gave him another hug. He tensed a little. "Thanks. You're really cold… are you sick or something?"

I winced. "Yeah… or something. Have you seen Mom and Dad since the crash?"

They had to be okay. They just had to.

"Yeah, they're hanging in there. They'll feel better once they know you're alive. Even though you're… different. You actually kinda look like one of the doctors there. What _happened_ to you?"

I frowned. "What do you mean, I look like one of the doctors?"

"White skin, gold eyes, shadows under your eyes, face like a supermodel."

I snorted at his description, but my mind was racing.

"Carlisle." Sylvia said at the exact instant my mind made the connection. "We know the doctor. We should visit your parents."

"Um, Sylvia, first of all I'm not sure about that. Second, we're talking about a _hospital._ You can see why that isn't a good idea?" I said, mentally willing her to make the connection. A hospital is where people go when they're injured and usually bleeding. Sylvia sighed.

"I know, but we'll have to risk it. Brandon's right, knowing you're alive could be what helps them pull through." Of course, I had forgotten Sylvia's talents. She could see what had happened in the months after we vanished, and she could see the aftermath of the accident.

"It's bad, isn't it? Really bad." I said, turning back to Brandon. He hesitated.

"I don't really… yeah, I think so."

"They must already be weak after losing you." Sylvia put in. I understood the 'must' was for Brandon's benefit. She was right- I couldn't let my parents think I was dead any longer. They were dying, but they would live when I returned this hope to them.

"Thank you, Brandon… we really have to go." I said. The sooner we contacted Carlisle the better.

"No!" he cried, grabbing my arm. "You can't leave me here. I don't want to go home without any of you there. Take me with you."

Caleb and Sylvia stiffened. "Kristi…" Caleb cautioned, "I'm not sure that would be safe. Especially after a few days."

My mind raced. How could I fix this? I really couldn't leave him here. I desperately wanted to take him home with us, for him to be my brother again. But we could end up killing him.

"Why don't we do it just for a few days?" I asked. "We can figure out what to do with him after we talk to Carlisle."

"What do you mean, 'figure out what to do with him'?" Brandon interrupted. "Why can't I stay with you? Where are you staying, anyway?"

I sighed. "Brandon, I know this is all really weird. Believe me, I would love to tell you exactly what is going on. You'll just have to trust me. There is a reason for all of this."

"Why can't you tell me?" he demanded. "I can keep a secret."

"Brandon," Sylvia said, "It's not so much that you can keep a secret. It's just that knowing the secret will put you in danger. You'll have to change like us to stay safe."

Brandon looked at us. "So? You're alive. I can't leave you again. Big deal, I look different."

"It's a lot more than skin and eye color, Brandon." Caleb warned. "We can't tell you what else changes or you'll have to change."

"Maybe not…" Sylvia said cautiously. Her eyes were unfocused- she was looking at memories she had collected. "It was an accident _they_ learned that Bella knew. I think there are more people than we know who know the secret without being one of us. They weren't originally planning on changing Bella, but _they_ found out and they have to now. If _they_ find us, we can promise we'll change him. Only if we have to." Sylvia almost seemed to be pleading with us. Why would she do that?

Caleb looked at Brandon, who did his best to look innocent and trustworthy. "All right, we can give it a shot. Only if you're okay with it, Kristi."

I considered for a moment. Would my brother be able to handle my world? It could scare him at first… but he would deal with it if it meant he could stay with me. After he got over the shock, it might even think it was cool. He would _beg_ to be changed into a vampire.

I sighed. Why was life so complicated? We would have to be very careful- hunt daily, and keep Brandon away from all sharp objects. We could do it- we had proved it with the hiker and the trip into the city.

"You can come with us." I told him. He sighed in relief. "Thank you." he said, hugging me again. I turned to Caleb and Sylvia.

"Do we tell him back at home or here while he can still run?"

"The house." Sylvia suggested. "This might take a while, and if it does we don't want to be caught in daylight." Brandon frowned, and I saw gears turning in his head as he considered the possible meanings of her statement.

"Okay, let's go. Do you have anything you want to take with you?" I asked Brandon. He shook his head. "I can go now."

"Follow us." Caleb said, and we continued down the dark alleyway out of the city. Caleb and Sylvia led the way, with Brandon and me following. At first he seemed nervous, but our obvious fearlessness soon calmed him down. He commented on it as we walked.

"You know, most people are scared of walking down dark alleyways at night." he muttered to me. "What are you guys?"

I smiled grimly. "I suppose increased confidence is one of the perks of being us. You're right, we aren't afraid of anybody who would try to give us trouble here… I'd almost like to see them try."

Brandon looked impressed and a little shocked by my answer. "You weapon dealers or something?" I laughed. I'd forgotten how funny he was and how much I missed him in the fog of my human memories. "Not even close. But I'll tell you this- it is really dangerous for you to stay with us. Really dangerous. We'll all be taking extra precautions, but even so you could die."

"Why, you have ugly friends back at home who might not like me much?"

I snorted. "None of our friends are ugly. And the three of us live alone. But hopefully you will only be staying with us for only a few days and the doctor can figure something out."

He sighed. "You really don't want me? Why are you trying to get rid of me?"

I put my hand on his shoulder. "Believe me, I wish you could stay with us forever. Literally. But when a small mistake could get you killed… it's not a good idea to push our luck."

"So, I could get killed, but nobody else lives with you? Is the house storage for bombs or something?"

"The house is fine."

"Then what would kill me?" he said, confused.

I bit my lip. "This is the part where you might want to run away screaming. One of us would kill you."

Brandon frowned. "But you would protect me, right?"

"I hope so. If the wrong accident happens, I might be the one to kill you."

His brow furrowed, and he now looked a little apprehensive. I let him think for a moment. I wouldn't like it if he had said he might kill me in the near future.

"But why?" he asked.

"When you hunt, it doesn't matter who it is who is about to die. You forget everything… but we're trying to be different. Believe me, if we were normal, you would already be dead. Sorry."

"Again, hunt? Kill? What have you become? You used to be against violence in any way, shape, or form."

"You'll find out when we're back at the house. The only reason we're different is because we do hate violence. It might even be the reason we're still alive."

"What, there were more of you?"

"Yep. We liked peace, so our enemies who are actually the good guys let us go. We trust them more than we trusted those we lived and fought with. It was a risk coming home every day. Again, we're really lucky we survived. We were almost destroyed a few times."

"We spilling the beans on everything, Kristi?" Caleb called back.

"Why not?" I replied. "If he knows the big secret, he won't get in any more trouble by knowing a few smaller ones. They aren't really secrets, but they'll help him understand what he's really dealing with."

Caleb made no further comment.

"You disappeared during the time when all those people were being murdered." Brandon prodded.

"Yes. It has everything to do with that. We were victims, but they changed us into the perpetrators. We got lucky."

"You mean, you actually did kill people? It would almost be better if you were dead!"

I winced. "That's kinda the point. And that's what the people who used to be our enemies kind of thought too. That's why we're different. Yes, we killed people, but we didn't have a choice. We didn't know any other way. We were horrified by what we'd become. Like I said, we're different. We haven't mastered it yet, we've only been trying for a month, actually. But the others… if worst comes to worst, I'm fairly sure you could live with them and not be killed. They have someone like you who practically lives with them. But she will become one of them soon."

"She wants to become a killer?"

"Not a killer. She wants to be different, too. In fact, as far as I can tell, she's afraid of how many times she'll slip up. But nobody in their family has killed in decades."

"Decades? How old are they?"

"Here's the thing- the doctor you met is their leader. The oldest. He's never killed anybody."

"He's the oldest, at thirty at the latest, but his younger family members haven't killed in decades?"

"You'll understand when you learn the secret. I can't say more right now. We're going to start running now."

We had followed Sylvia and Caleb out of the city during the course of the conversation and I smelled our scent from a few hours before.

"Run? Are we trying to escape or something?"

"No, it's just faster and more convenient." Caleb said, turning. "We'll have to find a way for you to keep up…"

"How about Brandon rides on Kristi's back?" Sylvia suggested.

"Good idea." I agreed. "But first, let's only run a short distance. Brandon, this is one of the things that makes us different from you. If you want to run away, let me know, and I'll take you back to the city."

"Okay…" Brandon said apprehensively as I knelt so he could get on my back. "But what about your friend… Sorry, what's your name?"

"I'm Caleb." Caleb replied.

"Yeah, him. I thought you couldn't carry me? If you're running, how can you possibly keep up with them?"

I grinned. "I love being me most of the time. Watch and learn, little brother." I gestured for him to get on. He put his hands on my shoulders.

"You sure?"

"You're going to want to hold on tighter than that. Go ahead and stick your arms around my neck, you won't strangle me." I grabbed his legs and stood up. He felt no heavier than a very light backpack. "Let's go. Brandon, let me know if you want to stop. You can watch if you want, but I would recommend closing your eyes."

He kept his eyes open. I sighed. "Okay, go." Caleb and Sylvia seemed to vanish. Brandon said "Whoa" but I started running a second after them. I ran at full speed for ten seconds, then slowed to a stop. "You still good?" I checked with Brandon. He nodded. "That was awesome. I really miss you, Kristi. This is a really weird dream."

I laughed darkly. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. But it's not a dream. I learned that when I learned I would never wake up again."

"That sounds really morbid. Are you dead? The undead? Like a zombie?"

"No. Unfortunately, that was your closest guess so far. You still coming?"

"Okay." I broke back into a run, holding tight to Brandon, but not very tight considering my actual strength. We caught up to Caleb and Sylvia, who had paused to wait and see if we were coming. They broke into a run beside me.

"How can you see anything?" Brandon yelled as we darted through the forest.

"We have good eyesight."

"You wear glasses. And good eyesight doesn't help when you go too fast to see things in the first place." He went silent for a moment, thinking. "Is that why your eyes are gold? Magic contacts?"

"No contacts. And I'm fairly sure it's not really magic involved."

"I meant for that to be a sarcastic comment. You're _fairly sure_?"

We slowed down. We had reached the house. "Yes, fairly sure." I replied. "You okay? Motion sick or anything?"

Brandon slid off my back, then crumpled to his knees. "Uh-huh… just a sec." he moaned.

"I really hope we don't kill him." Sylvia said quietly. Brandon couldn't hear, but I could.

"We won't. We'll have to be really careful. Just a few days until we can contact Carlisle."

"How'd you hear what she said?" Brandon mumbled.

"We have good hearing." Caleb replied. Brandon snorted.

"Of course you do. This is a really cool dream, I hope I never wake up. I didn't know I was this creative."

"When you figure out this isn't a dream, you'll be begging to wake up." I growled.

"Uh-huh."

"We've all killed people. This isn't all cool."

"What are you?"

I exchanged glances with Caleb and Sylvia. "Do you think it would be better if we told him or made him guess?" I asked. Sylvia thought for a moment. "Make him guess." she suggested.

I turned back to Brandon, who had gotten up off the ground and was brushing himself off. "Your undead zombie guess was the closest." I said. "Maybe you can figure it out from there. But some of what you know about us isn't true. Most of it is, though."

I took a few steps back from him so my closeness wouldn't freak him out if he realized what we were.

"Okay, what have I noticed so far?" he asked.

"Cold, hard skin, gold eyes, speed, good hearing and eyesight, strength, fearlessness for everything except ourselves killing you, and we look like supermodels." Sylvia rattled off. She frowned. "I suppose I mentioned we didn't want to be caught it daylight too. And remember the fact that the doctor is different like us. Most of us are completely baffled as to how he has enough control to work in a hospital. But it's a good thing- his enhanced senses help save lots of lives."

Brandon was silent for a moment. "You said part of what I know is myth."

"Speaking of which," I interrupted, "I did also make that comment about never waking up again. That proves some of the myths aren't true. The most important and commonly known stuff involves the day thing and the doctor thing." I hinted. Brandon nodded.

"I'm scared but this is also starting to feel like twenty questions. You mentioned you don't kill people, but you still mentioned something about extra hunting."

"Animals." I clarified. "Here's another clue- our eyes are gold because of the animals. If we went back to people, our eyes would be red." I frowned. "I think I said too much. How do I explain without giving it all away?"

"Don't worry, you lost me with the eyes thing." Brandon said. "Why don't I just go through all the myths I know? Are you some sort of gods, Greek, Roman, Egyptian or something?"

I snorted. "No. But Riley did tell us we were once. Riley 'babysat' us and around twenty others. We were created by someone named Victoria, but that means nothing to you."

"Okay… superheroes?"

"No. Try thinking more along the lines of the bad guys." I suggested.

"Okay, not zombies. Is it a futuristic thing? Zombie apocalypse, robots sort of thing?"

"Nope. Our kind have been around a really long time."

"Ghosts?"

"Closer."

"Werewolves?"

I smiled nervously. "Even closer. I might have fought a few, but that's not us."

"You _fought_ a few? Seriously? I'll admit that openly admitting werewolves exist freaks me out more than the changes I've seen."

"Then maybe you should stop guessing. Just go with it." I suggested.

"That bad?"

"I'm sorry, the burn is coming back a little." Sylvia said. "I'll be back in a few minutes. I barely feel it, just being careful." She vanished into the woods and Brandon watched carefully.

"Burn?" he asked. "What burn?"

"Um… it indicates… we haven't hunted in a while, I guess."

"Like fire?"

"It feels like it if it gets too bad."

"So… like you're being burned? Like a witch?"

"No. Just…" I hesitated. "on our throats."

"Burning throats. Like your neck is on fire or like you're thirsty?"

I swallowed nervously. "The second one."

"And it indicates you haven't hunted… animals, people…" he muttered to himself. "Thirsty… but what could you possibly..." he froze, eyes wide, and slapped his hand to his neck. I backed away a few steps.

"But… you smiled…" he stuttered. I grimaced. He had it, but the absence of fangs was throwing him off.

"Some parts are myth." I reminded him gently. "Don't be afraid, we really are trying our best to keep you alive."

"You know what I guessed. Am I right?" he asked, looking back and forth between the two of us. He backed into a tree.

"If you would prefer to run away screaming, let me know and I'll take you back to Seattle so you don't get lost." I offered. He shook his head slowly. I sighed sadly. "I know I can keep in control long enough to get you back." I said.

"No… it's okay, I believe you. I can handle it… just give me a moment, I learned that my older sister isn't dead, and she's actually…" He shook his head. "I think I've just received a lot of shocking news today. Tonight. Whatever." He leaned against the tree, and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. After maybe three minutes he seemed to calm down. He opened his eyes, and returned to his joking tone of voice.

"Nothing would surprise me anymore unless I found out you have a vampire boyfriend or something." I noticed it was the first time any of us had said 'vampire' aloud.

Caleb suddenly started coughing. "I think the thirst is getting to me too." he mumbled, then ran into the forest after Sylvia. Brandon watched him go.

"Wait… WHAT?" he shrieked.

"Um. Not really. Maybe a little." I protested. "You seem to be okay with the vampire thing, but not this? It's really not a big deal. I guess we've saved each other's lives a couple of times."

"Yeah, but-"

"Can we just forget about it?" I blurted, darting forward and putting my hand over his mouth. I realized my mistake a second later.

"Oops. Sorry. I'll stand over here." I muttered, darting back to the other end of the small clearing.

"It's fine. I know you're trying. But you're only seventeen! Actually, never mind, it's impressive you've managed to go this long." He said thoughtfully.

"I don't even know if I'm seventeen." I protested. "We stop aging when we transform. That's why the doctor is the oldest and the others still haven't killed in decades. The doctor is like three centuries old or something, but he's only twenty-three. I turned seventeen during the process, so I'm not sure it counts."

"Wasn't your birthday the day after you disappeared? Were you… transformed… before or after midnight?"

"You know, it might have been after. Sylvia and I were out pretty late. That makes me feel a lot better. I'd rather spend the rest of my… existence… seventeen than sixteen"

"And, you said you birthday could have passed _during_ the transformation process."

"It usually lasts about three days. But the pain… Imagine your entire body on fire. Then multiply the pain by a hundred. Make it last three days, then add the fact that you're aware the entire time. Not unconscious. You feel everything, hear everything. It isn't something I would wish on anyone. And then the pain gets even more unbearable as it leaves your legs and arms and gets your heart… and it stops beating. Then your throat starts burning."

"Ouch."

"Understatement of the year."

"So, what else can you do? As vampires, I mean." he asked curiously, but also hesitantly.

"Better speed, strength, reflexes, sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste. Our skin is unbreakable. No human could possibly hurt us. The only way we can be killed is if another vampire or werewolf tears us to pieces and burns us. I know from experience, unfortunately."

"You killed a vampire?"

"No!" I cried, shocked by the idea. "The only things I have ever killed were food. But I've seen lots of vampires killed. I almost got killed myself. See, most vampires are really crazy when they first wake up. It lasts months. They're called newborns, and they're stronger than mature vampires because their own human blood still lingers and gives them strength. It lasts about a year. And most of them are completely ruled by their instincts. They get upset easily, their emotions take over, and they get into lots of fights. A few of us have a little more sense than others and can restrain ourselves somewhat. That's why the three of us are still alive. We were created to form an army to destroy this other coven of vampires, except it turns out what our creator really wanted is revenge on this particular human that stayed with the coven.

I started to tell him what had happened during the first months of my new life, and about our special abilities. He was impressed when I showed him my invisibility thing. When I was just finishing mentioning how Carlisle helped us go, Sylvia returned.

"Hi. Seeing as you're talking about Carlisle, I assume Brandon guessed right?"

"Wait, Carlisle? Didn't you say that was Doctor Cullen's name?" Brandon checked. "I'm sorry, I've only seen him once but I really can't picture him fighting vampires."

"You could." Sylvia said, referring to her ability to show others memories. I rolled my eyes. "No, Sylvia, I'm fairly sure he doesn't need that image in his head. Actually, could you explain to him about the Volturi? I'd like to hunt. If it's okay with you, just a precaution." I checked with Brandon.

"Sure, that's fine."

"Okay, where did you leave off?" Sylvia asked. I closed my eyes and she checked all the memories of our conversation, chuckling and wincing a few times.

"Okay, got it. You can go now." she said when she had finished. I checked to make sure Brandon wasn't afraid of being left alone with her, but he seemed fine. I bounded into the forest, following Caleb's scent. I soon found him. He grinned when he saw me.

"Sorry. Hope he didn't give you any trouble."

I chuckled at the memory. "He was trying to make a joke, so he was surprised when he realized it wasn't. He forgave me after a minute, when he mentioned it was pretty impressive I had managed to stay out of this sort of thing until I was seventeen. Then I told him I was never going to get any older than seventeen, and he kind of forgot about it."

"Okay. So, changing the subject, are we going with the hunt often strategy? I assume we're not going for endurance right now."

I shuddered at the thought of Brandon's smell when I got thirstier, and what would come of it. "That sounds about right. Maybe every few hours, but only one or two animals or we'll run out. We might feel a little burn, but we won't really be thirsty. We handled the hiker pretty well, as long as Brandon doesn't cut himself I think we'll be fine."

"You sound like you're trying to reassure yourself."

"Maybe I am. Maybe this was the wrong decision." I murmured.

"Look, it will be fine. We might have to keep our distance, and the three of us should stick together to restrain ourselves, but I think we can do this. Who knows, maybe this experience will help add to our control."

I smiled. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

"Sort of. More like what you keep yourself from killing."

"Technically, that's not true, because drinking blood does strengthen us."

"Well, he'll still make us stronger, just not in the literal sense. Mentally."

"That sounds right." I agreed. I closed my eyes, listening, and heard the heartbeats of a couple large animals. Mountain goats. "Let's go." I said, opening my eyes.

A few minutes later, we returned to the house. Brandon was still alive.

"You good?" I checked, both for his benefit and Sylvia's. They both nodded.

"I'm going to see if I can get a hold of Carlisle." I told them, stepping into the house. I picked up the phone and checked to see if he had sent anything. He hadn't yet, but he should soon- the hiker incident was not the sort of thing he would ignore. I texted him, asking to call us as soon as he could. I couldn't exactly send everything I needed to say in one message.

I came back outside. Brandon and Sylvia were sitting across from each other on the ground, talking. Brandon absentmindedly picked blades of grass and shredded them as she talked. Caleb leaned against a tree a few feet away. I looked at the little scene with happiness. This was my family now. My brother seemed to be accepting my strange new world, willing to take anything to be able to stay with me. We had always been close as brother and sister, there had never been much rivalry. He especially was very supportive of me, and of people in general. I shuddered at the thought of what he must have felt when he believed I was dead. The funny thing was, I had never been afraid of death itself. Of course, I certainly liked living much more, but I was always more afraid for my friends and family and how it would affect them as opposed to what would happen to me. Unfortunately, my fears seemed to be justified. My parents had been in a car crash and them believing I was gone probably wasn't helping.

I looked up at the sky and told myself to think of happier things until Carlisle called and I could do something about it. It wouldn't help anyone if I worried when there wasn't anything I could do to fix it. The sky was beginning to change, get lighter. Sunrise was coming. The birds sang cheerfully in the trees. I wondered what kinds they were. Someday I would have to find that out. It wouldn't be hard, my new and improved vampire mind could easily memorize things as simple as bird calls.

I noticed the conversation had gone silent. Brandon was still absentmindedly shredding a blade of grass. I smiled and walked to him at a human pace, offering my hand. He took it and I swung him onto my back and darted up a tree. I reached the top and set him down on a branch. He laughed in delight when he saw where he was, and I heard the soft movements of Caleb and Sylvia as they joined us. We perched there for a while, watching the sunrise.


	11. Chapter 10

Eventually I heard a ringing noise. I wouldn't have heard it over the birdsong if I still had my human hearing.

"That'll be Carlisle." I said. I secured Brandon on my back and jumped out of the tree. He yelped in surprise as we fell through the air and I landed lightly on the balls of my feet. I darted into the house, picking up the phone only five seconds after it had begun ringing.

"Doctor Cullen?"

"Is this Kristi?"

"Yes."

"Why do you need to speak?"

"You got our message about what happened with the hiker?"

"Yes. Congratulations, you have gained amazing control for your age."

"We thought that if we could handle that, it would be safe to go to Seattle and get some supplies."

"What happened?"

I launched into an explanation of our trip and what we had learned, and what we were currently planning to do.

"So, we were basically wondering if you could help us with Brandon and if it would be possible to visit our parents." I summed up. The doctor was silent for half a second.

"What are the names of your parents?" he asked.

"Andrea and Cyrus Blackwood." I said, pulling up my human memories of them.

"You are confident with your control?"

"I think so… Yes. I used to not be able to be within a mile of a bleeding human."

"That is the main reason I might consider allowing this. You seem to have wonderful control for your age. This is very risky, but it would certainly help speed their recovery if you were to visit them. Could the four of you be at Rainier Field tomorrow morning before sunrise? It is the field where the battle was held. I will judge if you are ready for this, and if you are I will take you."

"I remember it. We'll be there."

"Good. What are you doing for your brother right now?"

"We're hunting more often. Instead of doing it all at once and waiting a week between hunts, we're doing a little every few hours. That way the burn never gets bad. We try to have at least two of us with him if we can. We can help keep each other in control."

"Good. I will escort you through the hospital tomorrow, if it is safe to do so in the first place, and I will judge your control. If it is unsafe for Brandon to continue staying with you, I can make arrangements to keep him somewhere else."

"Thank you so much." I said fervently.

"You are welcome. I will see you tomorrow morning."

He hung up and I went outside to talk to the others. "You heard?" I checked.

"Every word." Caleb replied. "And we explained to Brandon at the same time."

"So, we're visiting Mom and Dad tomorrow morning, right?" Brandon checked.

"Yes, if he thinks we're ready." I confirmed. "We'll have to work on explanations for our parents."

"Sure, I can do that." Brandon agreed, yawning.

"How much sleep have you gotten in the past few days?" I checked, suddenly worried.

"Not much. It's kind of hard to sleep in the cold rain. I guess I found places to stay out of the rain, but it was still cold."

"You should get to bed. I think there are a few upstairs. Pick one you like." I told him. He didn't argue, and went upstairs.

"I'm starting to forget all this human stuff." I said, laughing. "It's been so long. What else…" I smacked myself on the forehead. "Food! Duh! Can you guys stay here while I go stock up on human stuff?"

Sylvia smiled. "Sure. Just watch the sky and make sure you're under cover if there's a break in the clouds." She glanced up. "Which is unlikely. Good luck."

I took the wallet of money and ran to Seattle. Before I entered the city, I checked the sky again. All that was visible was a thick gray blanket of clouds. I breathed shallowly as I prowled through the streets, ready to hold my breath at a moment's notice. I didn't think I would have any problems, being around humans for several hours had made me a little less sensitive. I found a different gas station from the one we had visited the night before. I got a bunch of junk food I remembered Brandon liked. They didn't really have anything healthy. I would have to find food somewhere else if he stayed with us for a while.

I returned back to the house, where I found Caleb and Sylvia playing chess. We had found the board and pieces in a closet a few weeks ago. It was untouched by vampires who had occupied the house previously because it had been upstairs. Nobody ever went upstairs.

"How did it go?" Caleb asked.

"Nobody died." I said.

"Excellent." Sylvia said, killing one of Caleb's pawns with her bishop. Caleb killed her bishop with a castle, and Sylvia moved one of her castles forward. "Checkmate."

"We played a game before this. I won." Caleb told me.

I snorted. "Of course. Did she beat you before that?"

"No."

"Just checking."

"You want to play, Kristi?" Sylvia asked. We were fairly well matched in chess.

"Sure. I just want to check on Brandon first." I replied.

"Neither of us drank his blood… I think." Sylvia said, glaring at Caleb in mock suspicion.

"I didn't do anything." Caleb said quickly. I rolled my eyes and darted upstairs. I listened and heard his heartbeat in the first room I checked.

"He still alive?" Sylvia asked when I got back downstairs.

I grinned. "Barely. I found him in the first room I checked that had a bed. Poor kid must be exhausted."

"Who wouldn't be?" Caleb agreed. "I hope he doesn't have nightmares. Daymares. How old is he, anyway?"

"He's fifteen, about a year and a half younger than me." I remembered. I sat down and played chess with Sylvia. She beat me within a couple of minutes.

"Nice." I complimented her. "You should play against Brandon. He slaughters me every time. I wonder who would win now that we have our new and improved brains?"

"I'll have to find out." Sylvia said thoughtfully. I started a game with Caleb while she went inside to see if there were any games we had missed earlier, or if there were any good ones that needed a minimum of four players that were now available. She returned a few minutes later with a few games I'd never heard of and a deck of cards. She watched our game, which lasted about twenty more minutes and ended with Caleb checkmating me with one of his knights.

We continued to play board games until a couple hours past noon, then we took turns hunting one by one, sticking to our rule of having two of us at a time with Brandon. I was relieved that he seemed so easy to live with so far. We weren't having any issues as long as we had hunted within a day. Sure, it was irritating. He smelled good, but I couldn't foresee anything going wrong unless we were forced to not hunt for a longer stretch of time or if he started bleeding. I had planned ahead and bought a simple first-aid kit at the store earlier that day.

Caleb was teaching us a new card game when I heard Brandon's footsteps upstairs. It was about three in the morning. Brandon stumbled down the stairs and shook his head at the scene of us playing on the floor.

"You guys really don't sleep, do you?"

"Nope." I answered, placing down a card. "But we'll probably leave in about an hour now that you're up. Just to be safe. In the meantime, is there any human stuff you need to do?"

"C'mon, it sounds like I'm the weird one when you put it that way. Actually, do you have any food?"

"Yep, I remembered to stock up yesterday. I also grabbed more clothes because you'll go through them faster. The only reason we'd need to change is if they get shredded by a bear or something."

"Shredded by a bear?"

"It doesn't happen very often. We've gotten much better at taking them down quickly." Sylvia said, her eyes still on her cards.

"And I got a first-aid kit. You should always keep it with you." I added.

"You're starting to sound like Mom." Brandon complained.

"The difference is it might actually save your life. So stop grumbling." I put down three of my cards and counted them. "Fifteen points." I said, and Brandon walked into the kitchen where i had stuck the food. He returned with cookies and watched us finish the game. We still had forty-five minutes until we had to leave.

"Brandon," Sylvia began after we had put the cards away, "Would you like to play a game of chess? I hear you're pretty good."

"I'm not that good, just a lot better than Kristi."

"I'm about as good as Kristi is… except I have a vampire brain, and you don't. Want to try?"

"Sure." Brandon agreed. "Put this on the list of things I never really expected or wanted to do during my lifetime. Play chess against my vampiric sister's best friend." He sat on the floor across the board from her. The game lasted a while, about twenty minutes. I think it was fairly close, but I didn't know much about chess.

"Checkmate!" Sylvia cried triumphantly. "Vampires are officially better at chess than humans."

"Good game." Brandon said. "I haven't had a chance to play against anyone besides Kristi in a while, and she really stinks."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "We better go hunt." I said. "We'll take turns again. We should fill ourselves up, we are going to a hospital after all."

I left first and was back in ten minutes. I wasn't picky this time, just taking everything I could get until I was too full for anything more to matter. Sylvia left and was back in another ten.

"You guys go ahead." Caleb told us. "I'll catch up." He ran into the woods and Brandon climbed onto my back again. I quickly referred to our map, double-checking we were going the right way, and I ran in a different direction, Sylvia following.

We arrived in the field, Caleb getting there fifteen minutes after us. As we waited, Caleb and Sylvia started a conversation. I ignored them, preoccupied with my own thoughts. What would my parents think of what had happened to me? Would they be glad to see me, or would my changes scare them? What would they assume had happened to me? Kidnapped by the gang of murderers in the papers who were also plastic surgeons?

Would it be safe to be with my parents after this? I couldn't return home to live with them once they recovered, there was too much of a chance I would attack somebody. But they didn't know that. How can you explain the changes I had gone through and the fact I couldn't live with them anymore when they couldn't know the secret? My mind went in circles, but all the excuses I came up with were weak, cruel, or just plain crazy.

Eventually I noticed the gradual lightening of the sky that signaled the approach of sunrise. At the same time I heard a new set of footsteps slow from a vampire run to a human pace. My head snapped up and I sniffed the air- it was the doctor. There was another vampire with him. I thought I had smelled the scent before, but I wasn't sure who it was.

"He's here, and he brought someone else with him." I told the others. Caleb and Sylvia had noticed the footsteps, but Brandon's hearing wasn't good enough. Brandon got up from where he had been sitting. The rest of us remained standing. It was just as comfortable as any other position, we never felt the need to sit or lie down anymore.

We stood still as they approached. I recognized his companion- she was small, and had short, spiky black hair. She was Alice, the one who could see the future. They came to a halt a few feet away from us. Brandon stepped forward to shake their hands. Not at all afraid to meet the local vampires… or maybe he wanted to make a good impression.

"It's nice to see you again, Dr. Cullen." Brandon said.

The doctor smiled. "I'm glad I can help. Please, call me Carlisle. This is my adopted daughter Alice." Alice smiled cheerfully at us and waved.

"I'm Kristi, and they're Caleb and Sylvia." I said. Carlisle nodded.

"Brandon is your younger brother?" he checked. I nodded.

"And he knows everything?"

"Everything we knew to tell him." Sylvia replied. "We didn't see the point in holding back. Once he knows the main secret, the others seem less important, but they help reinforce the reason the secret should be kept."

"Good. How is your control coming?"

"Good, I think. None of us have tasted human blood since we made our decision. It got a little close with the hiker because we weren't prepared." Caleb said. "We had to stop Kristi from attacking, but later he skinned his knee and she stood about a foot away from him and gave directions. We all went to Seattle and found Brandon, and Kristi went to Seattle one more time."

"Impressive. How old are you?" Alice asked. Her voice was high and she sounded like a singer. Most vampires did.

"Kristi and Sylvia are a little over two and a half months, and I'm about five and a half months."

"Very impressive." Carlisle agreed. "When was the last time you hunted?"

"About half an hour ago. We knew we were going to a hospital, so we drank a lot."

Carlisle turned to Alice, and she nodded. "You're good as far as I can see."

"It seems you are ready, then. Alice is coming with us to make sure nothing will happen. I am only allowing this because Alice cannot see anything going wrong, but that could change. Try to stay in control. I will be watching closely to make sure this isn't too much for you. Follow me." Carlisle said.

He and Alice disappeared into the trees he had come from. I wasn't worried about losing him, his scent left a clear path. I grabbed Brandon and we followed, running through the forest for a few minutes until we stopped next to a black car. It hadn't occurred to me that of course the doctor would need a car to pretend to be human. I hadn't really expected to run all the way to the hospital, but I hadn't expected a car either. I was more focused on what would happen at the hospital than how we were getting there.

We got into the car and put on our seatbelts. Brandon sat shotgun. There weren't enough seats in the car, so Alice took off running to the hospital. She would be practically invisible in the light of dawn as she ran. I stared out the window as we drove. The car accelerated, but the trees did not blur past. They remained clear and defined as ever as a result of my vision. It really hit me now. It now seemed perfectly normal while I was running, but doing this mundane, human thing, something I had done hundreds of times before in my mortal life, I realized I had changed. There was no going back. I was part of a supernatural world. I didn't notice the route we took to the hospital, too lost in my own thoughts. But soon we were getting out of the car. I noticed we were in the middle of a small town. It was strange to be back in human civilization during the day. Almost day, at least. The sun had risen, but it was lost in the thick layer of clouds. I inhaled- I could smell that humans had been here recently, and a few were here also getting out of their cars. The scent was mouthwatering, but I wasn't thirsty. The smell wasn't accompanied by any burn. Now I just had to concentrate and be on guard for any stronger smells, namely the smell of fresh blood.

Sylvia and Caleb sniffed the air as well, testing it. Their faces remained smooth and calm. Carlisle evaluated our reactions and led the way into the hospital when Alice reappeared. I decided if I ever came back to a hospital, I should totally come with a doctor. We didn't have to wait for anything, we just walked through the white, gleaming hallways while the staff we passed simply nodded or said "good morning."

The smell was bearable. I could smell blood, but the scent was old, faint, and masked by the smell of cleaners. Soon we stopped at a door.

"Here is where your parents are staying." Carlisle said. "I will go in with Brandon so he can explain as best he can. Alice, keep an eye on them." It didn't feel like Alice was watching us, it seemed more like she was protecting us. She was, in a way, from ourselves if we came into the wrong kind of contact with humans. It helped that she could only be a year or two older than us, physically.

Carlisle opened the door and stepped into the room, Brandon following. I swallowed nervously. I was glad I could see my parents, but would they accept me for who I was now? What would they think if they ever learned the whole truth?

Sylvia patted my shoulder. "It's going to be okay." she murmured. "You're here to help them. The fact that you're alive should help more than the fact that you've changed should hurt."

"What's the worst that can happen?" Caleb asked. Then he grimaced. "Don't answer that. What's the worst that can happen without revealing what you've become?"

"I'm not really sure. They think I'm dead." I whispered.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." Alice said sympathetically, as she tapped a finger to her head. "I know." Her statement reassured me a little.

Our entire conversation lasted only a few seconds, and I heard voices inside. I was sure I would be able to hear them even if I had been at the other end of the long hallway we were in.

"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood. You have a visitor." Carlisle was speaking.

"Brandon?" I heard my mother's frail voice.

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad."

"Son, you can't run off on your aunt like that. She's been worried sick." My father's voice. Hearing them made me want to rush inside the room, but I made myself stay put.

Brandon had been staying with one of our aunts? I guess it made sense. Our home was closer to the other end of Seattle than the place we'd found him. We had a couple living in that general area.

"I'm sorry, it just became too much. I couldn't handle it. But I'm fine. I actually brought someone else here to see you."

"Who?" My mother asked. "And is your aunt with you?"

"No. I haven't actually gone back to her yet. The doctor drove me here." A very small part of the way, but it was still true.

"Doctor?" my father asked, confused and weary.

"Yeah. He met... the visitor I brought with me… and offered to help us. She'll come in in a moment, but try not to have a heart attack. She's different, changed, but she's still the same person. She's okay." Brandon said. He sounded like he was trying to reassure them, but I could tell by the sound of his voice he was a little tense too.

"Who?" my mother repeated, confused.

"She really is the same person, but she looks different. I'm not sure what else she wants to tell you, so…" he trailed off. Carlisle's footsteps approached the door and it opened. I took a deep breath. My throat didn't burn. I stepped inside the room. The room was white, clean, with windows along one wall. There was a chair between the two hospital beds, where my brother sat, holding my mother's hand. I noticed this all in a sixteenth of a second, but only took in the figures on the beds. Battered, covered in bandages, with IVs coming out of their arms, were my parents. I looked at them, with my new eyes taking in their faces. My father was tall, with brown eyes and dark brown hair. My mother had blue eyes and blond hair, like me, but my hair was longer and my eyes were no longer blue. I noticed this all in less than half a second.

My mother gave a small gasp and my father just stared.

"Kristi?" he choked out. "You're…"

"It's really me." I murmured quietly.

"You're alive." my mother said. I saw some life return to her eyes. I had been right to come and give them this hope. I stepped forward and I smelled old blood again, it smelled good, but it didn't bother me. I could tell Carlisle was monitoring my every breath as I walked to her side and took her hand. I could tell she noticed my cold, hard skin, her heart sped up for a moment, but she didn't flinch away. She pulled me closer, and I gave her a hug.

"I love you." I told her. "That didn't change." I was careful to move slowly, at a human pace, as I reached to the other bed and gave Dad a hug too. I was gentle, and though he noticed my cold, hardness, he held me tight to him, with enough strength that I would have been unable to break free if I was still human. I felt my breath hitch in my throat again. I was crying, in the vampire sense. He let go after a minute and I stood between the beds.

"What happened to you, sweetheart?" my mom asked. I saw tears in her eyes, but I wasn't sure if they were of joy or of pain for the last few months. "Did something happen to you, or did you leave? Did we do anything?"

It was definitely pain, and guilt. I shook my head, kneeling by her again and taking her hand. "No. No, you are wonderful parents. I didn't choose to go."

"Were you…" my dad seemed unable to say the word _kidnapped._

I winced. "Yeah, I guess I was."

"Oh, honey…" tears started spilling down my mother's cheeks.

"How did you get away?" Dad asked, his face pale.

"We met Carlisle, and he realized something wasn't right. He helped us escape." I said carefully. I was determined to tell the truth as much as I could.

"Carlisle?"

"Doctor Cullen." I clarified. My parents' heads turned to look at the doctor, who paused from noting something on a clipboard. He acted like he hadn't paid attention to our private conversation, but of course he had been completely aware the whole time. I wondered if it had been a mistake to call attention to him. My parents might notice the resemblance- cold, pale skin, shadows under the eyes, breathtaking beauty. At least Carlisle and Alice hadn't hunted in a while, so their eyes were almost black. That part wouldn't give us away.

"You saved her?" My father asked.

"In a way." Carlisle replied. "She did a good job of escaping herself. I merely assisted them." I wasn't sure if he was being modest or was trying to be as truthful as possible himself.

"Them?" My father quickly noticed the plural. "Sylvia was with you when you disappeared. Is she…"

"I escaped with her and another friend I made. They're just outside the door, actually, but they were changed too."

"Have them come in." My mother said. "They went through this too. Were you hurt?" she asked as Carlisle went to open the door. I was glad my friends had good hearing, too. They would know what to say based upon how far we had gone in our conversation.

My mom gave another small gasp as Sylvia and Caleb entered the room and she took in their gold eyes and white skin. My dad looked back at me.

"Were you hurt?" he repeated, echoing my mom.

"I'm fine now." I said, answering his question and reassuring him at the same time. "We actually escaped a month ago. I just wasn't sure if you'd be okay with the way I'd been changed."

"But they did something to you… does this have anything to do with the murders that were going on?"

"Yes… I don't really want to talk about it." I said, trying to avoid the subject. I noticed Alice had silently slipped into the room behind Caleb and Sylvia.

"Honey, I know this is hard, but we can't let these kidnappers and murderers do this to other people. This could happen again." my dad said fiercely.

"Please try to calm yourself, it won't help your recovery." Carlisle said in a soothing voice. "The wrongdoers have already been taken care of."

Dad's eyes narrowed. "But we would have seen something in the news… are you sure?"

"Quite sure. It wasn't a public sort of thing, we didn't want to draw attention to the survivors. They have gone through enough."

Dad calmed down. "Where are the other survivors?" he asked. I looked at Caleb and Sylvia and they shook their heads.

"We're the only ones. Everyone else was killed." I replied. Mom looked horrified. "How do you know? Did you see people killed?"

"I really don't want to talk about it." I repeated. It all seemed more real more horrifying when my parents said it that way. Earlier I had taken it for granted- that was how life was.

But all the hunted, all those burned vampires, they had been people too, there was families they would never return to. And I had seen them die.

"I'm dealing with it. I don't want to talk about it yet. I'm fine."

Mom looked at Sylvia. "Do your parents know you are alright?" she asked. Sylvia shook her head. "Not yet. I don't know if I'm ready…" She trailed off, unsure what she should say.

"They have been staying with me." Carlisle said. "I've been able to help a little. Of course, if they prefer, they can go right back to staying with your relatives." This was true, in a way, though it was stretching a little. Of course, we wouldn't choose to live with my aunt.

Mom looked at me and I shook my head. "It's okay, I'll stay with the doctor. Besides, I feel safer with Caleb and Sylvia there, and I don't know if any of our relatives are prepared to deal with all three of us." My statement was entirely true, they just wouldn't interpret it the correct way. I wish I could tell them, so they could understand.

Mom sighed. "If you prefer. I just feel like it would be better for you to get back to normal. This had been very traumatizing for all of us."

"I know, Mom. I'm really sorry. I just don't think I'm ready to rejoin civilization yet." Also true. "I don't want to do anything until you are better."

"Okay. Brandon, would you mind going back to live with your aunt? She's worried sick that something has happened to you."

"I'll let her know I'm fine. But is it alright if I stay with Kristi? I've really missed her…"

"Alright. That's fine as long as it's fine with the doctor."

Carlisle nodded. "We would certainly be willing to care for them wherever we can."

I hugged Mom again. "Thank you. You should really get some rest."

I hugged Dad. "We've missed you. Visit again soon."

"I will if I can. I love you." I said. The five vampires and Brandon walked out of the room. Carlisle handed Alice his car keys, and we walked back to the parking lot.

I had mixed feelings towards our trip. I was thrilled that my parents were okay with the changes they knew about, and that we had made it through a hospital, of all places, without hurting anybody. I was worried about what would happen when my parents recovered and there was no way to avoid moving back with them anymore. Would we have to cut them out of our lives altogether?

The car pulled over in the same area we had arrived in. We got out of the car and thanked Alice.

"No problem." she said cheerfully. "It was nice to meet you. Sorry about the situation you're in. I'm not sure if it would be safe for Brandon to stay with us…" She noticed the shocked looks on our faces and laughed. "None of us would hurt him, don't worry. We just don't want to make it _too_ obvious that we're helping you behind the Volturi's back after they killed poor Bree. And as far as I can see, he'll be in no danger if he stays with you. That could change, but hopefully I can warn you in time… keep the phone on you. I would offer a place closer where you could stay to make communication easier, but again we have the issues of the Volturi. And i don't think the werewolves would like any more immortals in the area."

I'd never thought of us as _immortals_ … but it sounded better than 'vampires'. Maybe I would use that term instead.

"I'm sure you can find your way back." Alice continued. "Call us if you have any problems. Or, you know, if you just feel like calling." She smiled. "I'm glad you guys survived. You seem like nice people."

I grinned back. "Thanks again for letting us live. I like being alive."

"Sure beats being burnt." Sylvia agreed, and Caleb nodded.

"See you soon!" Alice called as she got into the car and drove away.

"Do we take her goodbye literally?" Brandon asked. "She can see the future. I don't think she would say something like that casually unless she means it."

I just nodded, grateful for the turn of events that had led me here. I couldn't stop marveling at how friendly all the Cullens were. You could actually enjoy being around them as opposed to being afraid they would rip your head off. Maybe I would take Alice up on her offer and call her sometime.

"Shall we go, then?" Caleb asked, interrupting my train of thought. Brandon sighed as he climbed onto my back.

"I wish we could do this differently. This feels kinda weird." he said.

"Why? Are you not used to your sister being a hundred times stronger than you are?" I asked, amused.

Brandon smiled. "That's probably a big part of it. It does make me feel like there's a ten year difference between us instead of one-and-a-half. I feel like a toddler, being carried everywhere because I can't keep up."

"Would you feel better if I did it?" Caleb offered. Brandon chuckled again.

"Maybe. I'll think about it."


	12. Chapter 11

We hurried back to the house and continued our regular routine. The weeks passed uneventfully, though they were more enjoyable than they had been before Brandon. Now that we knew the extent of our control, we ventured into Seattle more often, though still usually at night when less humans were up and about and sunlight couldn't accidentally peek through the clouds. We waited twenty-four hours whenever we decided to go to Seattle, so Alice would have a chance to give us a heads-up if it wasn't a good idea. We used the opportunity to get stuff from a sports equipment store a few times. Brandon watched us thoughtfully as we played games, at first wincing when we crashed into each other at high speeds, but he eventually just watched as he got used to it, sometimes cheering on one or more of us. I wondered what he thought as he watched us play, he had a strange expression on his face. Calculating? Concentrating?

We again built up the amount of time between hunts, but this time it was by hours at first, not days. We couldn't risk things with Brandon. Eventually, we felt confident with not hunting for three days in a row. Brandon said he couldn't really tell the difference when I asked him about it.

There was also the matter of our parents recovering. It meant that we would have to go back to living with them soon, or find an excuse not to. I couldn't bear finding a way of permanent separation, such as faking my death. My parents couldn't lose me twice. We were able to visit them a few more times, as they got better faster. Them knowing I was alive had really helped their recovery. Whenever I visited them, they noticed my thoughtfulness, and asked if something was wrong. They thought I was more affected by what I had gone through than they knew, and they worried. I tried to act like my normal self around them, because they didn't realize I only acted strange around them, when I was pondering how to tell them I couldn't stay with them anymore. And staying with them certainly wasn't an option. Even if I did get my thirst one hundred percent under control, there was still so much that could go wrong. I could move too fast, break something if I wasn't concentrating on being gentle. And the whole non-eating thing would be confusing. I would have to pretend I was obsessed with hiking and camping just to be able to hunt. The only option I could think of was to tell them the truth, and that wasn't possible either.

They also bugged us a little about Brandon, and I almost agreed with them. It wasn't as dangerous for him to live with us anymore, but it was always a risk. He was a human, and he needed to be a human. It was August, and school was starting soon. He needed to start acting like a normal kid and live with Mom and Dad. Our life wasn't good for him, in more ways than one. There was also the fact that if he insisted on staying with us, our parents would want to move in, too. We discussed the problem, but Brandon seemed undecided about what he wanted to do.

One day, near the end of August, I was reading a book while Brandon watched Caleb and Sylvia toss a baseball back and forth. I couldn't help but be impressed a little- not once had Brandon showed any outward frustration towards not being able to do almost anything physical with us.

Then the phone rang. I picked it up from the grass beside me, and Caleb and Sylvia stopped tossing the ball and moved towards me, away from Brandon. Just in case. I checked the number- it was Alice. We had called her a few times, but she hadn't called us as much.

"Hey, Alice." I said. "Are we going to kill Brandon in the near future?"

"I hope not. I don't think so."

"Why? What is going on?" I asked, now a little worried.

"Have any of you made any big decisions recently?" Alice asked. I turned towards Caleb and Sylvia, and they shook their heads.

"The three of us haven't decided anything." I said. "We aren't planning on going to Seattle in the near future…"

Alice was silent for a moment. "You should talk to Brandon." she finally said.

"Why? What did you see?"

"He's made a decision. He'll tell you."

"Okay…"

"Talk to him. I'm not sure what you should say, but I will check back later."

"Okay. Thanks, Alice." I said, hanging up. I kept the phone with me and darted to Brandon. I couldn't read his expression.

"Hi. Alice just called."

"Any of you guys drinking my blood?" he checked.

"No. But she did say you had made a decision, and I should talk to you."

"That's true."

"What did you decide? Are you going back to Mom and Dad?"

Brandon winced a little. That couldn't be good.

"No. I guess you could say I've decided to go the other way."

"Other way?"

"Kristi, I decided I want to become a vampire like you."

I was shocked into silence for a moment. That thought hadn't occurred to me. Now that I thought about it, it was fairly obvious that he might come to this conclusion.

"Brandon… I don't really know if you would want this."

"Why not? Strength, speed, amazing senses, immortality… and I could stay with you guys. I wouldn't have to kill people if I live the way you do. And those Volturi guys won't be after you for telling me. Everybody wins."

"But it's more than that." I protested. "You always have to be careful, keep yourself hidden. We're kind of stuck here all day, we don't trust our control enough to live normal, human lives. Not that we really could in the first place. If you became one of us, you would want to join a family like the Cullens. We're kind of hermits out here."

"But that part won't last too long. We'll all get better control of ourselves, then we can try to do it their way. I'm sure Carlisle could help us, we could pretend to be relatives or something."

"You're fifteen." I replied. "You really shouldn't be frozen that young. Go back to Mom and Dad and take a year or so to appreciate human life. Then you can decide if this is what you really want. Don't be so hasty."

"I'm not. I've been wrestling with this decision for a month. I can wait another week for my sixteenth birthday."

"You're almost sixteen? Whoa. I guess I didn't see that coming." I said, distracted for a moment.

"Yeah. Sylvia's sixteen, right? It's not a big deal."

"Except we didn't choose this. We probably would have chosen to do this later, if we had chosen it at all. And what would Mom and Dad think? They think evil people changed me into this. I guess that's true. But that wouldn't make sense if you voluntarily did it! They would think you wanted to look like a supermodel too."

Brandon snorted. "It sounds funny when you put it that way."

I thought about that for a moment, and chuckled. "Yeah, it does. But that doesn't change what they'll think."

"We'll just tell them that there's more, and the beautifulness is just a side effect."

"I'm not sure beautifulness is a word…" I sighed. "Maybe. Think it over for another week, and we'll talk to Carlisle."

"Yes! Thank you, Kristi." He hugged me.

"I didn't say yes."

"But you didn't say no either. You said you'd think about it."

I smiled. "I guess I did. I think Caleb and Sylvia heard our entire conversation, but I'll go check."

I walked back to them.

"We heard the whole thing." Caleb said.

"And we're fine with it." Sylvia added.

Caleb frowned at her. "I don't remember saying that."

Sylvia sighed. "Well, I'm fine with it."

"Do you not think it's a good idea?" I asked Caleb.

He shrugged. "I'm not opposed to it, but I think it's a good idea for him to think it over a little longer."

I darted back to Brandon.

"What's the verdict?" he asked.

I sighed. "Think about it for a while. At least a week… you can decide for sure when you're sixteen."

Brandon grinned and sighed with relief. "Thanks."

"Either way, you're going to have to help us think about the situation with Mom and Dad. I don't know what to tell them when it's only me, while they believe I've been tortured or something, I can't tell them it wouldn't be possible for me to live with them anymore. If you voluntarily…" I kicked the ground in frustration, creating a small furrow in the ground and sending a clump of moss and dirt flying a few hundred feet into a tree.

"Oops. See, that's why, and I didn't even hurt anything but the moss, but that could change."

"Yeah," Brandon agreed, "it does make it harder now that they know you're alive. You can't exactly tell them that and then act like you've been kidnapped again." He thought for a minute. "Could you tell them the truth? You told me without ever planning to change me in the first place."

"We didn't have a choice. It was that or leave you on the street."

"We don't have any other choice in this situation either." he argued.

"Yes, but we have time to make sure that is really the only option. And if you tell them the truth, I'm fairly sure Mom and Dad really won't want you to."

"Then change them too." Brandon suggested. I fell silent.

"Why not? We wouldn't have to keep secrets from them anymore. And hey, if we did it soon they would be completely healed from the car crash."

I shook my head. "Absolutely not. You can't force this life on anybody."

"But maybe we wouldn't force them." Brandon said softly. "Maybe they'd want to be with you and support you as much as I do."

I could see the image in my head- the six of us, Brandon, Mom, and Dad now stronger, faster, paler, beautiful, golden-eyed. Living with the three of us as equals. Changing so they could pretend to be human with us.

Brandon noticed I was lost in thought. "Well?"

I shook my head again. "It's too dangerous. I doubt the three of us could control three new vampires at once. We can't reveal ourselves to them unless we have a reason- maybe if we're threatened by the Volturi."

"If Mom and Dad don't have control of themselves when the Volturi come, they'll be more likely to find us guilty."

It felt strange having a conversation with my human brother, who represented all things human in my life currently, about a nightmarish battle that had taken place back when I was a member of an army of bloodthirsty vampires.

I sighed. "I guess that settles it. You'll have to become an immortal if the Volturi ever return during your lifetime. You know way too much. But Mom and Dad don't have to go through that."

Brandon decided not to press it. I could tell he really wanted our family to be together again, and this was currently the only possible way to do it. I wanted it too, but I didn't want Mom and Dad on the Volturi's hit list if they learned about us and decided against vampirism.

Over the next week, we tried to include Brandon in all our vampire-related discussions, hoping he would get a better understanding of how difficult it was to plan trips to Seattle and hunting where there weren't any humans. Brandon asked once what it was like to hunt, but none of us felt comfortable taking him with us, and we compromised by Sylvia showing him some of her memories. Brandon seemed a little queasy but undaunted by the experience, and we assured him it did feel completely natural. He was impressed but a little overwhelmed by the detail of the memories we shared- his eyes, ears, and nose weren't nearly sensitive enough to get all the information we did. We continued to check him and test him throughout the week, but he still wanted to become an immortal like us. We decided to make one last trip to visit our parents, and sort of tell them what we were planning. But first, we wanted to talk to Carlisle in person. We were confident that we wouldn't kill any humans if we went to visit them in Forks, but we made the decision and planned several days ahead in case Alice called to stop us.

We waited, and no news came. We assumed this meant it was safe, and we started out. It didn't take long to get there, and we made sure to keep the phone handy in case we got any calls. We didn't.

We came to a clearing- no, it was a lawn, with six huge cedar trees shading it. There was a large white house in the middle, three stories tall, with a porch wrapped around the bottom floor. We saw it from a distance, though, as someone was there to greet us, rubbing her forehead.

"Alice." I said softly, knowing she would hear us. She looked up and didn't seem surprised to see us- nothing ever surprised her. She gave a small smile and came to us.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Headache."

"You can get headaches?" Caleb asked, confused.

"I can, apparently."

"Why?"

"It's Bella… I can't see her future. It's too wrapped up around…" she shook her head. "We're all kind of stressed. This isn't helping. Now really isn't a good time for this. It's already fairly tense, this definitely wouldn't be allowed by the treaty."

"Wouldn't?" Sylvia asked, confused. "Don't you know?"

"I can't see the futures of the werewolves. Or any futures they get involved in."

"Is Bella a werewolf?" I asked, confused.

Alice shook her head. "Of course not. Bella is pregnant."

Caleb made a noise of surprise, Sylvia frowned, and Brandon looked slightly shocked and nauseated.

"Yes, apparently it's possible." Alice answered our unasked question. "But we don't know anything. The… fetus… is growing much, much faster than a human baby would. And Bella can't eat anything, she won't keep it down. We're not sure what to do."

"Um… Should we come back later?" Brandon asked.

"I'm not so sure. After all, that would be breaking the treaty. We cannot harm any humans, and we still are working to find a way around or through it for Bella."

"Would they be more or less likely to forgive you for changing a total stranger?" he checked.

Alice shrugged again. "I don't _know._ " She was clearly frustrated. "You weren't part of the treaty, so if one of you changed him, and you stayed away from here…"

I winced. "I don't think that's possible. Even I can foresee that not ending well."

Alice nodded. "They might ignore you because they don't know you exist, but if you try, Brandon will die. None of you can handle it."

Brandon nodded, not looking disappointed, but thoughtful, trying to find a way around it.

We went back home and continued to wait. We returned the next day, to check back, but nothing had changed. We continued to check back every couple of days, but then we noticed something different- a different smell.

"Kristi, look at this." Caleb said softly. I walked over to him, and Brandon slid off my back. There was a large print in the mud- a wolf print, the size of a dinner plate.

"Werewolves." Sylvia said fearfully. Brandon stepped a little closer to us and looked around cautiously.

"Don't worry." I told him. "If anything, you have the least to fear of all of us. The werewolves are devoted to protecting humans. That's why they hate vampires so much."

The tracks smelled fresh- not in a good way. I wrinkled my nose, and made the four of us invisible. We followed the scent trail, finding they went all the way around the house.

"What are they doing?" Caleb asked, confused.

I was confused too. "I only smell three different wolves. I'm fairly sure there were a lot more we fought."

We continued a little further, then heard a loud heartbeat, and quick, padding footsteps. I checked again to make sure we were safely hidden, and backed into the trees. A huge, brown wolf passed in front of us- the biggest one I had ever seen, even bigger than the black one that seemed to lead the wolves in our fight. I would have noticed this one if it were there. Was it new? I didn't think so. I looked at its face- I couldn't exactly read wolf facial expressions, but it looked confident, certain. But it also didn't look happy. We watched it pass and it continued along the path we had already followed- it must be circling the house.

"What was that?" Brandon asked quietly.

"Exactly what you think it is." I whispered back.

"Okay… I'm all for keeping this treaty with the werewolves." he said in a small voice. I rolled my eyes.

"Obviously. But again, you have the least to fear of any of us here."

"It's a good idea… if the treaty is still intact." Caleb said darkly. It was true, we didn't know what this meant, but I had the feeling wolves circling the house wasn't a normal thing.

We carefully crept forward, still invisible. I knew wolves had a good sense of smell. When we got to the edge of the lawn, I noticed with relief that the house was still standing. If a fight had taken place, with vampires involved, that would be almost physically impossible. I relaxed a little more when I saw Alice standing under one of the trees. She looked directly at us, her eyes black with thirst- I took that to mean she would be seeing us in this spot in the near future. Which meant I should probably reappear.

We did, and of course Alice didn't look surprised at all. She darted to our side and I made all five of us invisible.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"The wolves found out." Alice said grimly. "One of the wolves… it's a long story. Long story a little shorter, a lower-ranking wolf that was higher-ranking by birth found out what was going on here. He reported back and the others decided they couldn't let whatever is inside Bella live, therefore they had to attack us and kill Bella. The lower-ranking wolf didn't like that, so he claimed his right to be Alpha wolf and left the pack. Two others followed him, and now they're protecting us in case the old pack does try anything."

"That sounds complicated." Brandon commented.

Alice nodded. "It is. But it's definitely a good thing they're here… if they hadn't Bella would be in much, much worse condition probably dead by now."

"Why?" It was probably rude to ask, but I was morbidly curious.

"Jacob had an idea, or more of a stray thought that gave Edward an idea. Bella wasn't eating or drinking anything, so she tried drinking blood, and she's doing better."

"Eeew." Brandon said. "That might be the grossest thing I've ever heard."

We all turned to look at him, and he realized what he had said. "Umm… I mean, she's still human. That's all."

Alice laughed tiredly. "That's something you'll have to get used to." Then she grew serious. "You can come back in a week. If we're still here, we might be able to figure something out. Carlisle is planning on giving Bella morphine first- if it works, maybe we can try that." She was speaking to Brandon. "You're a nice kid- I think you'll do well with immortality. But we can't be sure- we don't know of anyone who's ever chosen vegetarianism before becoming one of us. If Bella makes it, maybe we can make this work."

It was strange to hear her use so many _maybes,_ I had gotten used to her being certain of the future.

"Thanks." Brandon said, and I nodded.

"See you in a week, hopefully."

I mentally let go of Alice, and she returned to the house. We returned to our house.

"Are you still sure you want to do this so soon?" I checked with Brandon. "You're kind of stuck at this stage for the rest of your life."

"Yes." he replied confidently. "As long as I can stay with you guys, I'm fine. And the sooner I'm changed, the less likely it is that there'll be some sort of accident that could kill me."

"He has a point." Sylvia noted.

He did. We again went over exactly what could happen if Brandon wasn't careful, what he should probably expect. I hoped that the crazy first few months of my life weren't like that for everybody. They shouldn't be, because my main problem was the other vampires. We would be helping Brandon, not trying to kill him or compete with him for blood.

The week passed slowly, as we sat around our cabin, wondering if the Cullens were still alive. Brandon had it easy- he slept half the time.

Finally, our week of waiting was over. It was only made worse by the fact that we didn't know what had happened. When we reached the forest surrounding the house, we smelled that the werewolves had been there recently- not a good sign. Brandon looked worried, and we again reminded him he was safe. We were invisible.

He rolled his eyes. "I get it. I just hope that everyone's okay."

We crept forward for another few minutes and reached the yard. The house was still standing.

But there was a giant, brown wolf in the yard.

I instinctively backed up and looked closer. He was in a non-threatening position- his tail was wagging, and his tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth. The wolf wasn't alone- standing in front of him was a female vampire. She brushed her hair out of her face and I got a good look at it- it was Bella, now immortal. In her arms she was holding a baby that looked a few months old, with bronze-colored, curly hair. She was as pale and beautiful as any of us. But I could see her brown eyes, and hear her heartbeat across the lawn. It was fast, like a hummingbird. As we watched, Bella held the girl out to the wolf. She touched his nose and laughed, a clear, bell-like sound.

"Of course." Sylvia murmured, "once the baby is born, she would continue to grow just as fast."

"What?" asked Brandon. "I'm lost."

"That's Bella and her... daughter." I said. "Apparently the werewolves forgave the Cullens for transforming her."

"Oh. Now it makes sense." he said. "What do we do now?"

"Umm…" I looked around, hoping an answer to the question would present itself. Fortunately, it did. Carlisle came out of the house, followed closely by Alice.

"Hey, Bella, Renesmee, Jacob." she called cheerfully. Bella and the girl, Renesmee, waved. We waited and Carlisle and Alice walked towards us. Alice wasn't looking at us, but she put a finger to her lips and jerked her head in the direction they were going. We got the message and followed invisibly. They broke into a run, and we did too.

"I'm really looking forward to being able to keep up with you guys." Brandon muttered in my ear. Sylvia rolled her eyes.

"And being able to overhear conversations." he added.

Alice and Carlisle stopped.

"You can come out now." Alice said. We reappeared.

"Hi." I said. Alice grinned.

"I take it no treaties were broken?" Sylvia said. Carlisle nodded.

"It gets a bit more complicated than that. Jacob imprinted on Renesmee."

"I heard something about that…" Sylvia began. "I heard the word, but not the meaning."

"It is very complicated, but to sum it up, the wolves were willing to let Bella slide, and they wanted to attack us because they were afraid of the threat Renesmee posed. But it is against their law to hurt her now."

"Is that a good thing?"

"That depends… when Bella found out, she broke the shoulder of one of the werewolves on our side."

"Impressive." Sylvia said. I turned to her in confusion.

"She was furious." Alice said happily, 'and she _talked_ to him. _Argued_ with him."

Sylvia showed me the memory- indeed, Bella was seething, practically shaking with anger as she shouted at a man, who pled with her in return. I didn't really understand what they were talking about, but based on what they said, it seemed pretty serious. She even started to almost calm down- and the man accidentally brought up the nickname he had given the girl. Bella attacked, and a sand-colored wolf leapt between them, and Bella backed off, apologizing.

"Whoa. That was her first day?" I checked. Alice and Carlisle nodded. Caleb's mouth was open in surprise. Brandon looked interested, but not too shocked. He hadn't spent the first months of a new life in an army of vampires- if any of us had gotten even half that furious, we would have immediately attacked the person who was irritating us and possibly some innocent bystanders. Having a reasoned argument would have never crossed our minds.

"Amazing." Caleb said.

"And get this- Edward took her hunting as soon as she woke up, and she accidentally smelled a human. She went hunting for it, and Edward chased her. She turned to defend herself, and then she held her breath and ran in the opposite direction."

Caleb's jaw dropped again.

"Is she the only one to ever have done that?" I checked.

"As far as we know, nothing like this has ever happened before." Carlisle confirmed. "Which makes me curious… are you still set on becoming one of us?" he asked Brandon. Brandon nodded.

"We have two predictions on how this had happened." Carlisle continued. "First, this could Bella's gift, her special talent. She is controlled enough that her human father has safely visited several times within the past week. Our second prediction is that this is a result of her knowledge and planning, her conscious decision to try to stay in control. This is where you come in, Brandon. I'm curious to see if you have the same level of control. I hope you don't mind being our guinea pig."

Brandon grinned. "Reet Reet."

"The process-" Carlisle began to speak, but was interrupted by Alice.

"Is not painless. Bella is planning on telling you, the morphine only immobilized her. She still felt it."

Carlisle looked confused, but after a moment accepted the new information, a small smile on his face. "Of course she would say that."

I exchanged a look with Caleb, who shrugged. I'd have to ask Sylvia later.

"We will have to work out a day to do this." Carlisle said. "You are ready?"

Brandon nodded. "I've thought about this for over a month. I'm sure."

"You should still see your parents one more time. You may change your mind."

"When?" Brandon asked. Carlisle looked at Alice, and her eyes went out of focus for a moment.

"Tonight." she said. "Meet me at the end of our driveway. Carlisle will already be at the hospital."

Carlisle raised an eyebrow- apparently this was news to him.

"See you later, then." I said.

"Wait." Brandon interrupted. "You said earlier that Bella's father visited her. How did you explain that?"

"It helped that Bella was married and moved out of the house." Alice said. Brandon's face fell.

"Actually, one of the werewolves transformed in front of him. Bella's father was told part of the truth about us, that she had to change to save her life, and he's mostly accepted it."

Brandon nodded thoughtfully. "Any more questions?" I checked. he shook his head.

"No, I think I got it for now. Thanks, see you guys later."

 **A/N: I know this chapter was long and different things happened... did it work or was it weird? Tell me in the reviews!**


	13. Chapter 12

Brandon stared out the window of the car as the rain poured down. His reflection in the glass was thoughtful. I compared this to the first time we had visited and I had to break the news. It was good for my parents, as they thought I was dead, but how would they respond when Brandon was perfectly healthy and turned into one of us?

We pulled into the parking lot and entered the hospital the normal way, as Carlisle was indeed already here. My parents were in a different room now, almost fully recovered. They had stayed for so long only because they both had broken limbs, and life would have been difficult without Brandon or me home to help them.

My parents smiled when we came in. Caleb and Sylvia waited outside the door the way they usually did whenever we visited.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad." Brandon said, giving them both hugs. I did as well.

"It's been so long." Dad said as he hugged me. I thought back for a moment.

"Sorry about that. Things have been complicated… busy over the past few weeks."

Mom frowned. "Have you been doing anything?"

"No, not us. But the doctor's daughter in law just had a baby…" among other changes… "and they've had some visitors over, so he hasn't had a chance to take us." No need to add the fact their 'visitors' were protecting them from being killed by other werewolves.

"That's nice." Mom said. "Are they relatives?"

"I don't really know them, I've seen one or two of them, but I don't think so." I heard someone- Alice, maybe? -snort very quietly outside the door. They didn't try to eavesdrop, but they couldn't help their excellent hearing.

"How have you been, Brandon?" Dad asked.

"Great. It's nice spending time with Kristi and her friends." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"You've lived with us for a month, I don't really think you can call it 'spending time with us' anymore." I told him, and Mom laughed.

"At least soon we'll be up and moving around again, and you can come back home." she said. This topic would lead nowhere good. I glanced at Brandon, who seemed to come to the same conclusion.

"Mom, Dad… what if there was some good to the way Kristi was changed?" he began. Dad frowned. "I don't know, you still won't explain exactly what happened. You had…" he didn't finish the sentence, which was probably along the lines of plastic surgery where most people died.

"I mean, not that you don't look good, but is there any other purpose?"

"Dad, there is more, I just really can't explain. Maybe someday…" I said.

Dad nodded thoughtfully. "We want to help you, Kristi. Please remember that. I know this is hard."

"I know. I love you. I…" _I wish I could tell you everything._ I wished that I could at least tell them that I was fine, I was doing great with the physical changes, but that went against what Brandon had in mind. Maybe later.

"So, I was saying… there is a little more to what happened to Kristi, I can tell from they way they act and what they say. There is a way to become like them, not involving crazy homicidal plastic surgeons or anything-"

"Brandon, seriously, I'm just fine, I told you." I protested. All part of the plan.

"No. I want to be like you so I can help you." he replied. My parents looked confused and concerned. Brandon turned back to them.

"There is more to this, I don't fully understand it yet, but I want to help Kristi. I would still be the same person and everything, just different."

"There must be something you've told each other that you won't tell us." Mom said sadly.

"I want to tell you everything," I finally said, "But you have your own problems. You need to get better."

"What do your friends have to say about this?" Dad asked. "Are they still waiting outside? They can come in."

The door opened and the three of them came in. My parents looked at Sylvia and Caleb, then Dad's eyes slid to Alice. Her eyes were golden today, like ours. He frowned, then started glancing back and forth between the four of us.

"I thought you three were the only survivors." he said cautiously.

"That's still true as far as we know." I replied. Alice drummed her fingers against the wall for a second. It must have been some sort of signal, because at that moment there was a knock on the door and Carlisle came in. His eyes were golden as well.

"Kristi, should I just say it straight?" Brandon whispered so quietly only vampire ears could have picked it up. I took a deep breath, and nodded my head once. Carlisle checked the various machines around the room, noting things on a clipboard, while my dad watched him- the graceful way he walked, his white skin and golden eyes.

"Mom, Dad, these guys have been changed, and please don't try to guess what happened, because once you know the secret you have to become one of them, or something like that. But I want to be like them so I can help. I'm not being forced into anything, I'm choosing this. I just want to make sure you guys are okay with it first."

Mom seemed a little surprised by this change of direction, and Dad was still watching Carlisle and Alice.

"You're like them, aren't you?" he finally said. Carlisle nodded.

"Yes. Most of the time this does not happen for a good reason, but it is certainly possible for it to happen under peaceful circumstances." he said. "I think your son would be wonderful at being one of us. It takes some adjustment, but I'm sure after a few months at the latest he will be able to visit you again."

Mom sighed. "You still can't come back and live with us?"

"I wish we could." I replied. "It wouldn't be safe."

"What are you? What happened?"

"We can't tell you. Please don't try to guess." I begged.

Mom looked at Brandon. "Is this what you really want?"

Brandon nodded. "I'm sure. We really can't tell you any more, but this change is good."

Mom exchanged a long look with Dad. "If this is what you really want…" he said, "then we are fine with it. We trust your decision."

Brandon grinned in relief. "Thanks, Dad. Thanks, Mom."

We talked for a few more minutes, but it was easy to tell nobody was into it, too distracted by the earlier conversation. We said goodbye and went out into the hallway.

"You okay?" I checked with Brandon. He nodded. "When do you want to do this?" I asked, nervous. To me, it felt like the situation had changed. We had gotten parental permission, overcome the final hurdle. My brother was officially becoming a vampire.

"That does sound weird." Brandon said. "I'm ready. The sooner the better." He looked at Carlisle.

"How about the day after tomorrow?" Carlisle suggested. "It'll give you some time to get used to the idea and think it over one last time. It is against the treaty for me to transform him, so you'll have to do it."

"Wait, what?" I protested. "I'll kill him."

Carlisle shook his head. "An idea of my son's. Use a syringe to inject the venom in."

" _Ohhh._ " I breathed a sigh of relief and understanding. "That will be so much easier."

"And the morphine… apparently it does nothing for the pain, but it does immobilize you. It would significantly reduce the thrashing and screaming."

Brandon swallowed. "Oh yeah… I'll do it anyway, if it makes it easier for you." he decided. Alice rolled her eyes at some memory.

"And where should we do it?" I asked.

"The place you are staying would be best, I think. It is where he will learn to hunt without meeting any humans. I am curious to see if your newborn experience is anything like Bella's…" he trailed off thoughtfully.

"Thanks." I said. "We'll see you the day after tomorrow."

We got back into the car and Alice drove back to her house, dropping us off once she pulled into her three-mile-long driveway. We ran back to the cabin and I set Brandon down at the bottom of the stairs.

"Goodnight, sleep well, cuz after tomorrow night you're not going to get any more of it." I called to him as he went upstairs, and I heard him chuckle in return.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading so far! Let me know if you think the story is moving too fast or anything. Also, I'm working on writing a few chapters from Caleb's perspective, sort of like** ** _Midnight Sun_** **. I might publish them later...**


	14. Chapter 13

"So, let's go over this one more time." I said. Brandon nodded, a serious look on his face.

"My brain will be different, I'll be emotionally unstable, but Carlisle's theory is that if I try really hard I can keep it under control… I need to stay away from humans because they'll smell really delicious, and I don't want to become a murderer. I will be stronger than any of you, right?" he checked. I nodded.

"We're pretty sure. We're not a year old yet so we're still stronger than mature vampires, but you'll probably be strongest. Be careful, we might need this house for a while longer."

"I think I've got it. Above all, concentration, right? Try to keep a clear head and my emotions and thirst under control?"

"Yep. We're pretty sure it'll work." Sylvia confirmed. "If we accidentally make a rude comment, it's not the end of the world, okay? Nobody needs the death sentence for anything here."

"I seriously doubt that, we've probably each killed enough people to deserve the death penalty." Caleb commented.

"Not helping." I muttered out of the corner of my mouth. Caleb shrugged apologetically.

"Are you sure you're ready?"

Brandon rolled his eyes. "For the millionth time, yes. Calm down. I'm not having second thoughts, I'm just not really looking forward to the pain. Like a normal person."

"Okay. I just wanted to be sure. I won't ask again… except for when Carlisle gets here and it suddenly feels more real."

Brandon sighed and shook his head. "I'm fine. I'm going through with this. I'll be careful. This is going to work."

I smiled and gave him a hug- gently. "I really am glad you're doing this. I just am making sure you are too."

The phone beeped. Caleb checked it.

"Carlisle and Alice are on their way." he reported.

"Here we go." I murmured. "Are-"

Brandon stopped me with a glare and I smiled apologetically.

"Sorry. So, where do you want to do this? The floor? A bed?"

"Umm… I don't think I'll care once we actually do it. The couch works."

He sat down on it, and I sat beside him, waiting. After maybe five minutes, I heard the footsteps and I went outside, Brandon following. Carlisle and Alice came into the clearing, Carlisle holding a medical bag.

After exchanging greetings, we went inside the cabin. Brandon sat on the couch and Carlisle stuck the first syringe into his arm- the morphine. Carlisle handed me another, empty syringe. I frowned.

"What am I supposed to do, spit in it?"

He smiled. "That's the general idea, yes."

I shrugged and did what the doctor said.

"And, um, where am I supposed to inject it?"

"Anywhere, but the process will be fastest if you put it straight into his heart."

We waited another minute for the morphine to spread. "Are you sure about this? Last chance." I said.

Brandon nodded resolutely, his blue eyes determined. "Yes. I'm ready."

I looked at Carlisle, who nodded.

I stabbed the needle into Brandon's chest and pushed the plunger down.

 **A/N: I know, this one is really short, so I'm posting another with it.**


	15. Chapter 14

We sat for a minute and Carlisle carefully observed.

"All his reactions seem to be normal… strong, steady heartbeat… slowing breathing…"

We waited for another thirty minutes.

"It should be fine. He'll wake up in two to three days. Call me when his heart starts to accelerate or if you need me for anything else."

I nodded, not taking my eyes off my brother. "Thank you."

They left, and I sat there, watching. He looked like he was sleeping, but I knew better. Inside he was burning, being tortured. I remembered my own transformation all too clearly… I shook my head, dismissing the unpleasant thoughts. This was necessary. Part of the process.

I sat by him like a statue for the rest of the night. When the sun rose, Sylvia tapped me on the shoulder.

"Kristi… you want to go hunting? If you want, I can stay here with him."

I nodded, my first movement in over ten hours. "Okay. Thanks." I rose out of the chair and Sylvia stood where she was, not bothering to sit. We could stand for weeks if we needed to.

I went out the door and found Caleb waiting on the porch. He smiled at me and we sprinted off into the woods.

"How is he doing?" he asked as we ran. I shrugged.

"I have no idea, but Carlisle thinks he'll be fine. It's a good thing we're doing this now, there is no way I'm going to miss him waking up."

"Of course not."

He caught the scent of a bear following some deer.

"This gives me deja vu- remember last time?"

I chuckled. "I don't think we can get deja vu, but yes. When I think back, we used to be so… young, naive."

Caleb looked confused. "I mean, we were trying vegetarian hunting. Now we have survived two near-death experiences for someone else, kept my little brother alive for a month and a half, visited people in hospitals… I am now technically my brother's creator." I clarified.

Caleb smiled. "It does seem like forever ago. And the army… the fight with the wolves…"

"You mean the part where the wolves decimated our side and I hid us from the fight in order to save your life."

"Yes, that." he smiled at the memory and I would have blushed if it were possible.

"Hey, we're still alive. I do find it weird to believe that we were the only ones to escape…"

"What if others did escape? Plenty of people were burned by the sun, but now we know that isn't true."

" You're right… only Shelly and Steve come to mind, though. I didn't pay attention to any of the others."

"Why not?"

I shrugged. "No particular reason… maybe because they were the ones who were mentioned before Raoul tried to kill me."

"You mean the part where I knocked you out of the way and fought him while you ran and hid in a tree?"

I snickered. "'Yes, that.'"

We came upon the bear. "Ladies first." Caleb said. I rolled my eyes, knowing he wouldn't take the 'you found it' excuse. The bear turned at the sound of his voice and sniffed the air. I silently crept into the tree above it and dropped on its back, hitting it on the head hard enough to make it stagger. Definitely not anything a human could do. I sank my teeth into its throat.

When I finished, Caleb was waiting.

"You didn't need to do that." I protested. "You're just as thirsty as I was."

He shrugged. "Not important. A couple minutes doesn't make a difference. Now the deer."

We came to the herd of four. I got one and Caleb the other three. I finished first and waited for him. When he finished, his eyes were once again a burning gold.

"So, what now?" I asked. Caleb looked confused. "I mean, do we just go back?"

"What else did you want to do?" he asked, interested. I sighed.

"I don't know, I'm just tired of being in the same place. I want to go somewhere else, live somewhere else… with humans. That'll be more interesting."

"Once your brother gets control, we can. We could go back to school… amaze everyone and get perfect grades with our vampire brains… make new friends…"

"Not literally, right?" I checked. "I'm good with just Brandon."

Caleb laughed. "Let me rephrase: befriend a few new humans."

"Okay." I slipped my hand into his and we started to run back, but not as quickly as we had on the way there.

"And one more thing I noticed…" Caleb said. I stopped and turned to him.

"What?"

"Sylvia. I think… I think she likes your brother."

I laughed. "Very funny. Why would you say that? I thought only girls could tell that sort of thing."

"Generally, yes, but it's fairly obvious. Not as much when you're around, because it would get weird, but I thought you should know."

I laughed again uncertainly. "Okay, now I feel really bad for not noticing… You sure?"

"Pretty sure, yeah."

"Oh, no… I'm fine, this is just a bit of a surprise. And it shouldn't be, it's my brother and my best friend… what does Brandon think?"

Caleb chuckled. "As far as I can tell, he hasn't noticed. He's been too preoccupied with his vampirification."

"That's a word?"

"Umm…. sure."

We started running again. We got back to the house after a minute and went inside. Sylvia was still standing in the same place.

"Any change?" I asked. She shook her head.

We spent most of the time in the room with Brandon, playing games or just sitting. We didn't feel the need to hunt again. Carlisle checked in with us once over the phone, and he assured us everything seemed normal.

"Checkmate." I said, cornering Sylvia's king with my bishop. I had improved, as I could learn much faster now, but Sylvia still usually beat me.

"I hope you enjoyed beating Brandon while you could." I told her. She smiled.

"Yep, I'll miss it. He's actually really good, he just tries to be modest."

"He has gotten better too. Remember he almost beat Caleb once?"

"That was completely intentional." Caleb replied from where he was standing next to the couch. "As soon as I got out of check, I checkmated him. His castle left his king open to my knight."

Sylvia, who had her back to Caleb, rolled her eyes. "Okay, you won, so you get to play again." she said to me. She sat down, leaning against the couch, while Caleb sat across the board from me.

I moved a pawn, and he mirrored me. I paused to consider my next move, and l placed my hand on my bishop. Then all three of our heads snapped up and looked at the couch.

Brandon's heartbeat, which had been fast but steady before, sped up. Only barely- no human would have been able to tell, even a heart monitor might not have picked it up. But our ears could.

"Kristi-" Sylvia said.

"I know." I darted to the table, where we had left the phone. My fingers flew as I dialed Carlisle's number and pressed the call button.

"Hello?" Carlisle's voice said on the other end.

"Hi. Brandon's heart is beating faster now."

"Thank you. I will be there in five minutes."

He hung up, and I went back to the others. I didn't explain our conversation, they had heard it.

Over the next five minutes Brandon's heartbeat slowly got faster, but nothing else changed. We heard Carlisle and Alice approach, and Caleb went out to greet them. Sylvia and I stayed still, watching Brandon. Carlisle stood behind me and I turned to look at him and Alice.

"Shouldn't be long now." he said.

"Fifteen more minutes." Alice clarified. We waited. Fourteen minutes later, his heartbeat increased even more, becoming a single sound, with no individual beats. It thudded once more and all sound ceased. Nobody was breathing.

Brandon took a breath and opened his eyes.


	16. Chapter 15

His eyes were a vivid crimson. His face was white, sculpted. There were faint shadows under his eyes. We waited as he looked around the room, blinking a few times. He sat up, the movement quick, fluid. He met my gaze and I smiled. He tentatively smiled back. He lifted his hands up in front of his face and examined them in wonder.

"Wow." His voice was melodic, ringing. "There's so much…" he couldn't find the right words.

"How do you feel?" Carlisle asked. Brandon took another deep breath.

"Great, I think. Better than a few minutes ago."

We all nodded sympathetically. We had all gone through the transformation process.

Brandon looked around the room, taking deep breaths through his nose. "I knew you guys could see really well, but this is something else… and the smells…" He turned back to us. "Now what?"

"Aren't you thirsty?" I asked, confused he hadn't brought it up.

Brandon winced. "Now that you mention it… yes."

I turned to Carlisle. "I can take him, there are never any humans in this area… except for that one time. Is that alright?"

Carlisle considered for a moment. "Take someone else with you just in case."

"I'll come." Sylvia chirped. I nodded.

"Okay, come with us." I said to Brandon, and I went out the door and ran into the woods, Brandon following at the same speed.

"Whoa. I get it now. This is cool." he said. Brandon followed as we ran our well-used path to the stream. We stopped when we reached it. I glanced both ways- the way I might if I was crossing the street. I saw a deer through the trees, slowly walking away from us.

Brandon had his eyes locked on it too- he had heard its heartbeat. He inhaled and made a face. I smiled, understanding.

He tensed into a crouch, instinctively, then turned to me for confirmation. I nodded.

"Go ahead, you're doing fine." I told him. He nodded and turned toward the deer, slowly slinking forward. I followed him as he leapt over the stream in a bound and continued towards the deer. She looked back, hearing his pursuit, but didn't have time to break into a run before he tackled her to the ground and sank his teeth into her throat. Sylvia and I waited a few feet away.

Brandon came back up, grinning. "How did I do?"

"Fine." I told him. "Good job, you managed not to make a mess of yourself."

He frowned. "I'm still thirsty, though." I nodded.

"It'll be like that for a while. Come on." We walked back to the stream and Brandon watched as we looked for a trail to follow.

"Bingo." Sylvia announced, twenty feet further upstream than I was. "A herd of elk…" she sniffed again. "Six. Two for each of us."

I nodded to Brandon. "Lead the way." He darted ahead of Sylvia and sniffed the air. He closed his eyes, listening. He opened them and ran off into the trees, with us close on his heels. We emerged in a small clearing where the elk were grazing. We all took one down and the others fled into the woods. When we finished, we chased them down. I watched Brandon- he leapt and tackled it. Sylvia and I caught ours, and we returned to the cabin. Brandon looked fairly smug, probably because he could finally keep up with us. He was even a little faster as a result of his newborn strength.

Carlisle, Alice, and Caleb were waiting.

"How'd it go?" Caleb asked. He spoke quietly though we were still on the other end of the clearing. Brandon answered in an equally low tone.

"Great! I caught a deer and two elk."

"Welcome to the world of vampire vegetarianism." Carlisle said. "How do you feel? In general, not just about the vegetarianism."

"Strong. Fast. Graceful. And my mind feels different, I have more room for thinking, I can notice more at once, but at the same time when I think about one thing it takes over."

Carlisle nodded. "That's right. I wonder if you're keeping control of your emotions the way Bella can, or if you just haven't had any major negative emotions yet."

Brandon shook his head. "This is great, I don't have a reason to be upset yet."

"Even so, normally you would have found something to get upset about by now."

Brandon shrugged. "I know what I am, I expected it to be worse than this, actually. It takes some concentration to keep my emotions in line, but not as bad as I thought."

"Bella seemed to think it was the other way around." Alice noted. "We told her about how she would feel, how newborns acted."

"Yes, but what are your experiences with newborns?" I asked. "We were created and put into a completely undisciplined army. Left on our own, really, until we started killing each other. We probably have more horrible stories to tell, and they're more recent, too."

"Fair point." Carlisle agreed.

"When do you think I'll be able to see my parents again?" Brandon asked. "I don't expect it to be soon, just… it would be nice to know."

Carlisle smiled. "I don't know yet. You are doing remarkably well for someone your age. We will have to see."

"Okay." Brandon said, nodding. "I'll try to be good."

"You'll do fine." Alice said. "I don't see you killing anybody yet."

"Hopefully I don't change my mind."

"We will be back tomorrow." Carlisle said, and with that he and Alice disappeared into the woods.

"Okay. Now what?" Brandon asked. I glanced to Sylvia and Caleb, who shrugged.

"Ummm… I'm not totally sure. When we were transformed, we kinda just focused on staying alive."

"That's all?" Brandon asked, confused.

"I guess we did other stuff. You don't remember what we told you." Sylvia said. Brandon frowned. "No… my human memories… they're harder to remember. Murky."

He started to panic. I looked around, making sure there wasn't anything… Of course, everything is breakable to a newborn vampire. Caleb stepped in front of me.

Brandon blinked and took a deep breath. "i'm fine, it's just annoying. And a little scary when I think about it. That was my whole life."

Caleb relaxed. I grinned. "Don't worry, you don't forget it all. I remembered you, didn't I?"

Brandon nodded. "Thank goodness for that. If you hadn't, I would have been dead the moment I touched you."

"True," I agreed, laughing. "Congratulations. If you were like any of us when you first woke up, you would have gone into a rage when you got upset about the memories thing. At least one of us would be in pieces now, but you would probably feel sorry about it later."

Brandon grinned. "Awesome. But I'm still not totally sure about this… how good does a human smell, anyway?"

"Well…"

Sylvia interrupted. "If you really want to know, you could… um… look at your old stuff. It's like three days old, and not an actual human, but it'll give you a general idea."

Caleb chuckled. "And if you really like it, you won't hurt anyone, because that human no longer exists."

Brandon grinned. "Right." He darted upstairs and I followed. He went into the room where he had been staying as a human. He inhaled.

"That smells good. Good thing I'm not thirsty."

I flitted to his side. "You were in this room three days ago. You can definitely smell it, but the smell of a real human is a fifty times stronger… and the smell of fresh human blood is five hundred times stronger.

Brandon frowned. "It smells good, I guess, but I don't want to go after it. I probably would if I could smell a real human."

I grinned. "Normally someone would say 'wow, a real vampire' not 'a real human.' Welcome to the club."

"Thanks. Wait, how do I look?" Brandon darted into the bathroom and I again followed. He was admiring himself.

"I look good, I guess, except for the eyes."

"Once those turn gold, every human girl you meet will start chasing you."

"Until I sink my teeth into their necks."

"Exactly. We won't be risking anything human-related until we know we're all in control."

"How does that work exactly?"

"What?"

"Risking things. How far can we go?"

I thought about that for a moment. "I guess as far as we want without revealing what we really are."

"Do you think it would ever be safe to move back in with our parents?"

I shook my head. "Even if we could be careful, they would know something was up. We'd never eat, we'd have to go hiking every couple weeks at the very least… They might understand if we told them everything, but we can't do that."

"The Volturi."

"If the Volturi weren't hanging over us, we could tell them. I bet loads of people know the secret, but our creation was sort of illegal, so they won't let this slide until we can really prove we're in control and it wouldn't be a mistake to let us live."

"But there was that other thing you mentioned. You're talented."

"Yes. If they see that, they might 'just happen to be in a good mood so we can stay alive' in hopes that one day we'll join them. But we can't rely on that option. We've seen four of the guards, and one of them, she looked like a twelve-year-old, tortured a vampire my age. I'm nothing compared to her."

"Then we'll just have to… move out?"

"I guess. But I don't feel good pretending it's because I'm traumatized by my experience. It just worried mom and dad. It wasn't as bad as they think it was… and yet it was a thousand times worse."

"You weren't kidnapped and held hostage by people who changed and tortured you into a freak… never mind, they did… you were turned into a vampire and were raised to kill another group of vampires. I'm not sure which sounds worse."

"That's the point. Mom and Dad believe the first, which is true. The vampire part makes it sound better, it makes more sense, and yet makes it so much more…" I wasn't sure how to finish. I was in a unique situation.

"Hey, cheer up." Brandon said. "I'm guessing we still need to wait at least a week for me to visit a hospital even with supervision. We have time. And now that I'm like you, I can play games and sports and stuff!"

I smiled. "That's true, we can do a lot more with four of us. What do you want to do?"

He considered for a moment. "Do we have room to play football?"

"If we go to Rainier Field. Whichever team has you is going to win- you're stronger than the rest of us."


	17. Chapter 16

As promised, Carlisle did come back the next day, but this time without Alice. He questioned us and Brandon curiously, and said that so far, Brandon seemed to be reacting the same way as Bella. He had come close to losing control only twice over the past couple of days, and he had calmed himself down both times.

"How soon do you think I can visit my parents? They're probably worried. They still think the transformation process involves plastic surgery and torture or something like that."

"I don't know. A week at the very least, but it could take a few months. I will ask Alice." Carlisle replied.

We spent the next week getting Brandon used to his new life. His favorite thing about being changed was probably the physical part. He loved being able to run, jump, and climb with inhuman speed and strength. The days went by a little faster, we were still stuck in the same place, but we could do more, and Brandon's enthusiasm made it more fun.

On Brandon's eighth day, he remembered that he wanted to challenge Sylvia in chess again. Caleb and I watched as the two of them played outside. It didn't really make a difference, we were comfortable both inside and out, but outside was nicer, more open and free. Like we weren't actually trapped here.

Brandon was concentrating, his new brain allowing him to see the game from different angles and allowing him to easily keep track of multiple strategies. The game was over in ten minutes.

"Checkmate!" Brandon crowed. Sylvia grinned.

"Good game. I wonder how good you are compared to normal humans… you should join chess clubs once we go to school."

"Any of us could do it." Brandon replied. "I just happen to be the best out of the four of us."

"Want to play, Kristi?" Sylvia asked. I shook my head.

"I want to go hunting, I'll be back in a few minutes."

"I'll come too." Brandon said, rising smoothly to his feet.

We ran into the forest, towards the stream.

"What's this?" Brandon asked, finding a trail. I came over to him.

"Bear. It's better than deer."

"What about mountain lion?" he had caught one the day before.

"I think I like mountain lion better, but it's still good. I'll come with you, maybe I'll get lucky."

We followed the trail and spotted it. I darted up a tree to remain unseen, and Brandon followed. The huge mass of fur and muscle lumbered along on four legs, oblivious.

"Wow." Brandon said, impressed. "If I were still human, I would be scared silly by now."

"Don't worry, I would get it before it got you." I reassured him. He smiled and turned towards the bear. I watched as his eyes narrowed as he took in the scent. He jumped from tree to tree before dropping in front of the bear. It growled in surprise and swiped at Brandon, who darted out of the way fast enough that the claws only tore the sleeve of his T-Shirt. I flinched, reaching for him, but reminded myself he was immortal now. Sure enough, within another second and a half, the bear was down. Brandon hopped back into my tree. "Your turn."

I closed my eyes, listening out. I heard two heartbeats nearby and I followed the sound to a pair of deer. I finished them and went back to Brandon, my eyes once again bright and golden. I found him examining his arm.

"Are you hurt?" I checked. He shook his head.

"Nope, not even a little. Does anything leave a mark?"

My smile disappeared. "Yes. Venom." I showed him my left elbow, which had a slightly raised ring circling it, a pale scar. It was faint, no human would have seen it without good lighting. But Brandon could see it fine.

"What happened?" he asked. I laughed.

"A fight. Over a human, actually. A girl named Sara tore it off." I rolled up my right sleeve, showing him a similar marking near my shoulder. "And this… I got it a couple months later. There were these two new kids, and of course, Raoul tore them to pieces." Brandon nodded- he'd heard all about Raoul from us. "Then he went after me. He tore my arm off and tried to stick me in the fire. My first near-death experience."

"How'd you escape?"

"Caleb tackled Raoul. I didn't really know him yet at that point, so once I was free I ran for it."

"Huh… I noticed Caleb had a similar mark around his neck. Was it from that?"

"No. Riley took us to fight the Cullens and the werewolves, except not even he knew the wolves existed yet." I told Brandon the story of me saving Caleb and how I'd figured out I could shield other people.

"Wow." Brandon said, impressed. In all our storytelling, we hadn't gone into extreme detail about that particular fight. Mostly just what happened after it, with the Cullens and the Volturi. "You know… I think Caleb likes you."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, duh."

"No, I mean he really likes you. I mean… you kind of just act like friends, but he _really_ likes you. He's just afraid of offending you or something."

"Really?"

Brandon rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Guys can talk to each other too. But I'll tear you into pieces if you tell him I told you he told me. Wow, that came out painful even with my new head."

"Um… okay… It's not that I don't like him, I just…" I shook my head. "How does that work? I mean, we're vampires, stuck in the middle of a forest. I'm not sure if that changes the situation… or what the situation would be like in the first place. I have almost zilch experience with this sort of thing. Except what I've read in books, and who knows how accurate that is?"

"Me too. I know, not helping. But I don't think that sort of thing changes. You're just no longer human and aren't surrounded by humans either… at the moment."

"Okay. You sure?"

"He likes you a lot." he said confidently. "Cross my heart and hope to… be torn apart and burned to ashes?"

I laughed. "Good enough. Thanks, I probably wouldn't have guessed. Maybe I would have if I'd paid more attention."

"I don't see what all the fuss is about, honestly. There are four of, us, I think it's impossible to keep secrets."

"That's true. Sylvia knows and so do you. Like a game of telephone." I dropped from the tree and Brandon followed. We started running back to the house. I glanced up at the sky. "Hey, Brandon, look at that. There's a gap in the clouds and the way they're moving…"

"I get to see myself sparkly?"

"Sure." We ran for another couple minutes and the sun emerged from behind the clouds. I quickly climbed a convenient pine, and Brandon perched with me at the top. He admired his glittering skin.

"Whoa. It looks even cooler with this new vision." he waved his arm and points of light flashed across the shadowy parts of the surrounding trees. I had almost gotten used to the fact that my brother was a vampire, but this was something else- his face was now just as reflective as mine. We stood there for a minute until the clouds covered the sun again.

When we got back, Sylvia and Caleb were still playing chess. "What took you so long?" Sylvia asked.

"Brandon wanted to see himself glitter." I explained. Sylvia nodded and looked back at the board. She then glanced up, looking back and forth between me and Brandon, then at Caleb. I rolled my eyes. Did she intentionally view everyone's memories or was it a habit? Did they just flow into her head? I'd have to ask how it worked later. It was annoying, but sometimes convenient. That must be how the Cullens felt around the mind-reader, Edward. And Alice too, seeing the outcome of their every decision.

I watched them play for another minute and decided to call Alice. She answered after the first ring.

"Hello, Kristi. The answer to your question is it's better not to risk it. He's doing amazingly well, actually, there was a day when he would have killed someone for sure, but now I'm being careful. There are many different futures, and I can't be sure which way it'll go all the time."

I laughed. "Thanks. So-"

"I think in two days you might be safe. Your parents aren't staying near the ER anymore, surprise accidents probably wouldn't set anyone off… I'll get back to you, but that's when I'm most confident."

"Yeesh, it doesn't matter that you can't read minds, you're still-"

"answering all the questions you already planned on asking. And finishing your sentences."

"Yes."

Alice laughed. "See you in a couple of days."

She hung up and I smiled. She must be more confident of the day than she'd acted like. I walked back outside and Brandon grinned at me. He was excited. I thought about my earlier conversation with him and I sat on the ground beside Caleb. He smiled at me before capturing one of Sylvia's pawns with his remaining bishop.

 **A/N: How am I doing so far? I hope you like it, please review if you have any suggestions, constructive criticism, etc.**


	18. Bonus Chapter

**A/N: Here is a chapter of a few events from Caleb's perspective. I wrote it for fun, and because I thought I could continue writing better if I tried writing from his perspective and therefore understand him as a character better in my head.**

I sighed out of boredom. The days got so long here. After the initial weeks of terror, you learned that if you kept your head down, you would be fine. At least you would if you were smart. Some people here obviously weren't. I had been here for two months, and had long since figured out that fact. I realized that even though the days can be long and dull, it's better for them to be long and dull than to risk your life for entertainment. And I learned when I needed to be careful. Kristie and Raoul were going at it again, but this was normal, and I only paid attention to the fight with a fraction of my brain, leaving the rest of it bored.

I glanced over a couple of newbies. Somehow they had managed to get their hands on some books. This was their first day, and I was impressed they had even made it this far. Normally Raoul would burn the new ones as soon as he laid eyes on them. They must have come in on a lucky night. Unfortunately for them, chances were they wouldn't make it through the rest of the day.

I glanced over at Jack, the only vampire here I trusted even a little. Still, it wasn't very much. I had seen him in passing at school, but that was it. Even a little bit of past friendship goes a long way here. Then it gets broken down again by the fact that we're all bloodthirsty vampires.

Jack also looked bored out of his mind, but wary as well. He had been in a couple more fights than me, and didn't know when his last would be. Maybe this was his downfall- if you looked afraid or nervous, Raoul might pick a fight with you. If you looked like you really didn't care, he was content to let you stay in the shadows.

After a round of Riley shouting at everyone, we were allowed out. I was to head a group with three other vampires- Sara, one I didn't know, and one of the brand-new newborns.

I internally groaned. I wasn't looking forward to the shouting Riley would direct towards me when he learned she got killed in my group. Because I knew Sara was one of those who didn't let a fight go. I dove into the water, and they followed. I leapt from rooftop to rooftop, and we soon found some prey. Unfortunately, there was only one of them. My throat burned, but I ran away to look for safer options. As I glanced over my shoulder, I noticed Sara and the new girl fighting- Sara tore the girl's arm off. The girl may have been barely stronger, but she had no experience. She was so dead. Another typical newborn.

I wandered for another minute, finding a victim and sucking him dry, before moving on. I used my lighter to dispose of the body. I preferred to use different methods, because the fire option was pretty obvious, but I didn't feel like spending time on it tonight. After a few more minutes of searching, I found two more. I knocked out the first with a blow to the head and grabbed the second. Suddenly, the newborn girl appeared. I snarled at her to stay back from my remaining prey, and, amazingly, she did. After I set fire to them both, I turned to her.

"You don't have a lighter, do you?"

She shook her head, then ran off. I followed her and found three dried out corpses. No wonder she didn't seem thirsty enough to attack me. It was impressive that she had walked away from the earlier fight, though. Sara did have a lighter, and I was sure she was a goner.

The two of us swam back to the island.

A few weeks later, I was assigned to hunt with Jack. At least I was fairly sure he wouldn't try to burn me. I was sent with the other not-quite-a-newborn-anymore as well. After finding a couple of humans, I waited while the others took them. We started to move again, and I heard footsteps behind us. It was another group- Raoul, Kevin, the first no-longer-a-newborn, and a girl who I think was named Sue.

"What do you think you were doing?" Raoul called. "We were obviously tracking those two. Couldn't you have left them alone?"

My group members were frozen.

"Oh, come on." Sue said nervously. "There was no way they could have known-"

Raoul turned on her. "Oh really? You should think before you speak. They obviously knew what they were doing."

We really hadn't, but at a signal from Raoul, he and Kevin both jumped at the girl and began to tear her apart.

"Hey!" Jack protested.

What did he think he was doing? He was practically asking for the same fate. And they gave it to him, as soon as Sue was in pieces.

I might have been able to do something, but I was terrified. It wasn't worth it, I would end up in a pile of limbs like them. I started to back away as they made a grab for him. I noticed the girl in my group started make her escape at the same time- no, she ran to the other girl and grabbed her. For a moment it looked like I was the only one here with a sense of self preservation, or even common sense, but then the two girls vanished- they had run away together. That was strange. They must have known each other in their previous lives, they obviously trusted each other.

Then Raoul took out his lighter, and set fire to the pile of stone that was Jack. I was frozen. There was nothing I could do but save myself. When they turned to set fire to Sue, I ran for it as well.

I didn't deal well with it the next day, but it could have been worse. After the usual rage that Riley had when learning two more had been burned, things settled down, if you could call what we do 'settling down.' All the music still played at full blast, limbs were still lost and returned. Once in awhile I glanced over to the spot where Jack had been the day before, meaning to make a brief comment on what was going on. That was the most we ever did, but it still took me by surprise when I couldn't, and it did hurt a little.

That night, Riley allowed me to hunt again. He must have been feeling generous towards some of those that were being quiet or something, because I had the girl assigned to my group again, along with two others. Her friend was sent somewhere else.

I watched the girl, wondering what she would do without her friend. She was quiet, and seemed to make more of an effort to stay in the shadows than the others, though she wasn't submissive. She just seemed to prefer it that way and had no desire to take part in the drama.

I paid no attention to her other than noticing these small facts. She obviously didn't pay attention to me either. Why bother? Chances were we would soon be killed anyway and you could never trust anyone.

But still, I noticed when our other two groupmates started fighting over prey. They were both older than she was, but she waited off to the side, not even trying to take the victim while they were distracted. When she eventually grew tired of the arguing, she went off on her own, and I later saw her running into a cluster of abandoned warehouses with what remained of her prey, most likely to hide it.

The next month or so passed the way the others had- our numbers went up with more newborns and down with burnings. I learned that the girl I had noticed was named Kristi, and the other Sylvia. Impressively, despite the burnings, the house survived for a while. Our last house had only lasted a week, and I'd heard that the record was two days. Riley had really gone ballistic then.

It got close, one day Raoul started a fire inside the house itself. I first noticed when two newborns came in. I wasn't allowed to hunt that night, so I made sure to get my hands on a pile of books to keep me occupied during the day. I glanced up from one I was reading to look over the newbies. They appeared to be the usual confused-and-scared-out-of-their-minds type. They probably wouldn't make it far.

"Who are you? Shelly and Steve's replacements? They got burned by the sun. Or are you Sue and Jack's replacements?" Raoul asked them. The name rang in my memory and I started to pay more attention, now feeling a bit irritated.

"They got burned too… but not by the sun. Be careful and stay out of the way." I tried to stay calm, this was what had gotten Jack killed in the first place. As if they were proving my point, the newborns leapt forward. Raoul and his friends promptly destroyed them, starting a fire. I was grateful the floor of this basement was concrete. Raoul probably wouldn't set a fire over carpet or wood, but you couldn't be too sure.

Raoul started at a sound I hadn't noticed, and turned to a vampire with her face hidden behind her book.

"You want to join them?" he asked, and the girl dropped the book, shaking her head. I could see it was Kristi. Raoul grabbed her wrist and pulled her up. She tried to pull away, but he snapped her other arm off. Kristi hissed in pain.

I was frozen with fear again. Here I was, watching again as Raoul killed yet another one of us, just for the sake of it. This girl had been doing so well, she just happened to make a small noise at the wrong moment.

Raoul's friends laughed as she was pulled towards the fire, and I felt a new emotion- anger. Who did they think they were? We were not given these powers so we could kill each other. We were not made vampires only to die even sooner.

Kristi hadn't been made immortal only to die sooner.

Raoul lifted her up and she struggled against the grip of him and one of his friends. "The third one today." he said, his voice cheerful, but I could detect the madness beneath it. "What was your name? Oh yeah, you had a name just like that other girl's. Goodbye, Kristi."

He backed off in order to safely put her in the fire, and my vision went red. Without really thinking it through, I sprang. I leapt over the flames and through the smoke, crashing with all my strength into Kristi's limp body, sending her into the opposite wall. Raoul froze for a moment in surprise, and I tackled him to the floor, and we wrestle with each other until I managed to get my jaws around his wrist. I got up and and in the same motion tossed his hand towards the fire. He dove after it, barely rescuing it from the edge of the flames. I grabbed Kristi's arm out of the grasp of the surprised vampire holding it and tossed it in her direction, snarling "Stay outside until Riley gets back." That way he might be able to keep the burning to a minimum. I wasn't entirely sure how that would work when we had to come back in, but it was the best thing I could think of. Without hesitation, the girl vanished from the room and up the stairs.

I was now facing Raoul and three of his friends. It occurred to me that I was extremely outnumbered, but I had the advantage of surprise and height. They could also see that the anger was practically rolling off of me, and a few of them shrank back. The other two stepped forward.

"Don't even think about it." I snarled at them. Raoul's remaining friend gave in to his self-preservation instinct and backed away. Raoul, noticing he no longer had any backup, glared at me, but backed away as well, like the coward he was. I glared at them for three seconds, then turned and darted up the stairs. I paused once I reached the ground level. Should I find Kristi, or keep out of the way until Riley got back? I needed to find Kristi, she deserved an explanation, even though I wasn't entirely sure what that explanation was yet. Nothing good would come of it if I was still mad, though.

I took a few deep breaths to calm down. Once I felt better, I walked outside at a human pace, sniffing at the air for her scent.

Nothing. Had she escaped the house a different way? I would have noticed. There was no way her scent could have vanished so completely unless a flood had swept through the place in the last thirty seconds, which clearly hadn't happened.

There it was again- suddenly quite obvious. My head snapped up automatically in its direction, where I spotted the girl hiding in a tree. I took a slow step towards it.

"Kristi? Is it alright if I come up or would you prefer I stayed down here?"

After a moment of hesitation, her musical voice replied "You can come up."

I started slowly up the tree and stopped on a branch level with hers. I wasn't going to give the wrong impression by going higher than her, but I certainly wasn't dumb enough to give her that advantage. We eyed each other cautiously, waiting for the other to attack. When it was apparent we weren't going to, we both relaxed a little.

"Are you alright?" I checked.

"All in one piece." she replied cautiously. "And you?"

"The same. Just so you know, I won't attack you up here."

Kristi eyed me. "I won't attack unless you attack first… probably."

I snorted. "Well, that's encouraging." At least she was being honest.

"Why are you here? Why did you save me?"

I wasn't entirely sure, it was mostly an impulse, but I could explain why I bothered in the first place. "Well… I noticed you are different from some of the others. You and your friend… Sylvia, right? Anyway, I noticed you didn't go around burning people for the fun of it like most do here. You are fairly clear-headed for a newborn. How old are you?"

"A little over two months. And you?"

"Five months.I'm lucky I lived this long. I stayed out of the way, kept my head down. You did too, but not like you were submissive to them. Just smart enough to keep out of trouble. And I noticed you actually think before you do things. For example, loads of people here leave bodies lying around, or just burn them. You actually take the time to hide them."

She looked a little surprised that I had noticed, and maybe… flattered? I wasn't trying to compliment her, I was just explaining.

"Well…" she stammered, "it's just common sense. I've seen the newspapers, the humans have noticed us, but they don't know we're vampires. Riley always gets really mad when he sees the newspaper, and I figured I didn't want to give him a reason to tear my arm off. Back when I was human, I always thought about things for a while before doing them. It probably helps now."

"That's my point." I agreed. "You use common sense. Most people here are too intoxicated by their abilities and thirst to care. You're smart."

"Are you smart?"

I smiled. "I hope so. I had enough brains to notice you, didn't I? Where did you and your friend come from?"

She frowned a little. I hoped I hadn't gone too far. This wasn't something normally spoken of.

"Um, I guess I was walking home with Sylvia from a movie. She said there was this restaurant she wanted to go to and we tried walking there, but got lost. I remember I was knocked out, felt the pain, and woke up a few days later."

I nodded, understanding. "So you were more of a normal person than some gang member or homeless child?" Riley tried to go for those, but it must be hard to tell sometimes.

"Yep. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or the right place at the right time. Depends on your perspective. Why? Where are you from?"

I winced internally before shrugging it off. I suppose I had sort of asked for it. It wasn't important anymore. "I had a fairly normal life too, then my parents started fighting. I ran away, and Riley found me."

She looked sympathetic. I had never told anyone how I had gotten here but Jack. I realized I almost trusted her. She hadn't made one move to attack since the beginning, and she seemed genuinely caring and curious. She seemed to realize the same thing at the same time, and smiled.

"Now what?" she asked. "The sun will rise soon. We can't go back down there."

"Riley will get here soon. And if he doesn't, I'll go back with you."

I wasn't really sure why I made that offer, but I felt strangely protective of this girl, even though she was physically as strong as I was.

"How do I know you won't attack me?" she asked.

I thought about that for a moment. "Well, put it this way. If you go down alone, Raoul will get you. If you're with me, I could get you and hand you to Raoul, or I could protect you."

"Fair point." she agreed. "Wait… here comes Sylvia. Problem solved." she called her name softly, and a small vampire with light brown hair scampered up the tree and joined us.

"Hey Kristi, what's going on up here?" Then she noticed me. She got into a crouch and growled. I got ready to run away.

"It's okay!" Kristi assured her quickly. "He's not going to attack us, I think. But I need your help."

"What?" Sylvia asked, still eying me warily. Kristi closed her eyes and Sylvia's went out of focus for a moment. In the back of my head I noticed that they were both distracted, but I was irritated with myself for noticing the opportunity to attack.

Kristi opened her eyes again. "Long story short, Raoul attacked me, Caleb saved me. But there will be a mess to clean up."

"Uh-huh. Sure, I don't want to be on his hit list for being friends with you. Gimme a sec." Sylvia jumped out of the tree, landed lightly on her feet, and sprinted to the house. She reappeared in the tree a couple minutes later. "Coast is clear." she reported.

"Thanks, I owe you big." Kristi said, relieved.

I was clearly missing something here. "What was that about?"

Sylvia stared into my eyes for a moment, then looked around, confused. "How did I get here?"

I frowned at her. "You came back from hunting, came up the tree, went into the house, and came back up the tree."

Kristi nodded in confirmation, but looked at me strangely as well. Did she find it odd I was trying to be helpful?

Sylvia looked back at Kristi, who closed her eyes again.

"Oh!... So, why did I not know that? And why does he?"

Yes, I was clearly missing something.

"Let me try again." Sylvia muttered, looking at me again. I started to feel a little nervous as her face went blank again. "How did I get here?"

I sighed. "I didn't know vampires could suffer from short-term memory loss. You got back from hunting, came up here, went to the house, and came back."

Sylvia looked at Kristi again. "Umm… so I failed twice and it backfired?"

"Yep." Kristi confirmed. "Is it you or him? Test on me. Do something."

They seemed to be speaking in some sort of code or something. I watched in confusion as Sylvia dropped to the ground and ran around the tree before climbing back up.

"Do it now, last ten seconds or so." Kristi told her. Sylvia nodded and Kristi's eyes went unfocused for a moment.

"C'mon, you can do something better than that." She protested. "Don't just change positions."

"I didn't. I jumped down and ran around the tree. Caleb?"

I blinked in confusion of having to explain what had just happened. "Are you speaking in some sort of code? Yes, she ran around the tree about fifteen seconds ago."

"You did? No way." Kristi said, impressed. "How did you believe me when I told you what you did?"

"I see you." Sylvia replied. "Remember?... No pun intended."

"True." Kristi agreed. "So you're the problem." Kristi said as she turned to face me again. I automatically leaned back.

"What did I do?" I considered making a run for it. These girls were clearly crazy.

"Calm down." Kristi said, realizing her words had been a mistake. "That's what we're trying to figure out right now. Just listen, and we'll tell you everything."

"Okay." I agreed reluctantly. Maybe there was some sort of meaning behind this madness.

"So, it started my second night, the first time I was hunting in a group with you, actually." Kristi began. "When we found the one human, I got into a fight with Sara. She won, but while we fought apparently our other group member took the person, so she got pretty mad at me. Somewhere else, Sylvia got into a fight with Kevin. We got back at different times, and Sara fought Kevin. Sara beat Kevin and found me, so I ran for it. I jumped into a tree and suddenly she couldn't find me. I went to find Sylvia, we figured out I had this talent, and we told Riley. He told us some vampires have special abilities, like mind reading or telling the future or torturing people. He said Freaky Fred could repulse people. I can turn invisible, so nobody can see me, smell me, or hear me. Then I think Riley went to tell _her._ " We all shuddered. "You following so far?"

"I think so…" I replied slowly. Then my mind made the connection. "Is that why your scent suddenly appeared when I found you in this tree?"

"Exactly. Anyway, I didn't like the way he looked at me, like I was a tool or something. He acted like he cared about me, but he didn't before. He just liked me because I was special. Sylvia got upset and somehow he forgot about it. We figured out Sylvia was special too, she can see people's memories and erase them if she wants. Sylvia checked, and Riley never did make it to _her_ or even remember our conversation. So he's clueless, and we're ordinary vampires to him. Sylvia's been helping keep us out of trouble by making them simply forget about us. When she was in the house a couple minutes ago, she made everyone forget Raoul attacked and you saved me. It's safe to go back. Right?" she finished, glancing to Sylvia for confirmation.

Sylvia shrugged. "I think so. I don't remember."

"Which is where you come in." Kristi continued, turning back to me. "Sylvia tried to make you forget she was there and had done anything odd, because you were getting suspicious. But it erased her memories of what happened instead, and your memory is perfectly fine."

I nodded slowly. "I think I got it. But why would Riley care if you were talented? Why would _she_ care?"

Kristi went silent for a moment. "I have no idea. He didn't care about us before, and he doesn't care now that he's forgotten. We must have been created for some reason, he can't have just gotten a bunch of us for the sake of having us when he doesn't care about us."

I frowned. "Okay, that is weird. But the sun is going to rise soon, and you said the coast was clear earlier, so let's head back."

"We can figure this out later." Kristi agreed. "Sylvia said they don't know I have anything to do with you, so we'll act normal. I'll see you tonight, why don't the three of us go hunting?"

I grinned. "I'd like that. I think I can ditch my group, it's not like Riley keeps track. First one to the old park leaves a trail?" I suggested.

"Sure." Sylvia agreed. "Our first meeting of the super-secret talented spy club."

"Remember, we don't know you." Kristi said to me. "You know nothing about talented vampires or that Riley is doing anything suspicious."

I nodded. "I can do that. Why doesn't Sylvia go first in case she didn't actually brainwash everyone? All those in favor say aye."

"Aye. You first, Sylvia." Kristi agreed. We dropped to the ground and went through the front door. We stayed at the top steps while Sylvia investigated. She came back after only a few moments.

"Coast is clear." she whispered. "Nobody remembers a thing."

I went to the area where I normally stayed during the day, against the far wall. For once, the day didn't seem as dull, and yet it seemed to drag more than any other day had. My mind was occupied, thinking about the two girls, and at the same time I had something to look forward to once the day was over. I already trusted these girls more than I had trusted Jack. They seemed to trust me too, but obviously not as much as each other.

I was allowed out with a few others I didn't know very well. The groups usually had some sort of leader, generally determined by seniority, but they didn't do much. I was sent out with two who were younger than me and one older, for which I was grateful. If I was the group leader, it would be much harder to get away with escaping as the others would automatically follow.

I went with the others until a fight over two people allowed me a chance to escape. I snagged some prey on the way to the old park. There were probably several parks in the area, but this one was pretty old and could definitely use some help. I didn't even bother stopping once I reached it- I could smell the girls' scents right away.

It led up onto the roof, and I heard the end of their conversation.

"-Lucked into a couple. But after Caleb gets here, we should go again." Kristi said. She and Sylvia noticed I was here, and Sylvia muttered something to Kristi, which she rolled her eyes at.

"Did you hunt yet?" Kristi asked me.

"One human. My throat still burns." I replied.

We hunted, and after Kristi and Sylvia demonstrated their usual strategy of hiding the bodies in abandoned warehouses, we continued our conversation from the night before on the roof.


	19. Chapter 17

**A/N: Sorry for the mixup, and thank you to whoever noticed this chapter was the same as the one before. Here's the real chapter!**

I called Alice again- it was the morning of the day she had said we might be able to see our parents. Brandon waited calmly while I got the phone, but before I could dial any of the numbers, it rang.

"Hello?" I said.

"I win!" Alice sang happily. "I'll get you guys when you meet at the beginning of the trail to Rainier field in forty-five minutes."

She hung up, and Brandon started laughing. "She just won't let you talk, will she?"

"Nope." I agreed, also amused. "I guess we'll be there in forty-five minutes… which probably means we need to hunt. Especially you."

The four of us zipped into the forest, and thirty minutes, two mountain lions, a bear, and and five deer later, we started to make our way to the beginning of the trail that led to the field. We had a few minutes to spare once we got there, so of course I used the time to worry.

"I hope they're okay with this." I said nervously to Caleb.

"It'll be fine." he reassured me. "If anything was going to go wrong Alice would tell us. Besides, if they see Brandon is happy the way he is now, it'll be easier for them to think they made the right decision."

Brandon snorted from where he was standing twenty feet away. "I will do my best to appear happy and content without getting overexcited and drinking their blood."

I slipped my hand into Caleb's. "You sure?"

"Positive."

"Good… Brandon, your control must really be something for Alice and Carlisle to let you go to a hospital, of all places."

"Everyone's said that a thousand times. I guess I better live up to those expectations."

Just then, Alice pulled up in her car. We piled in, Sylvia got shotgun.

I started to say 'hi' to Alice, but her eyes went out of focus, so I let her be until she came back. "What did you see?" I asked.

She smiled. "Nothing that will affect this trip terribly. Your aunt will be there as well."

"Uh-oh." Brandon said.

Alice continued. "I suggest Kristi goes in first, your aunt already knows something happened to her, and once she gets used to the idea the rest of you can come in. She'll be a little confused about Brandon, but she'll get over it."

"Fantastic." Brandon muttered under his breath. Of course, by now we were at the hospital, due to the fact that Alice and the rest of us hated driving 'slow.' Once I started driving again, I would do my best to stick to the speed limit, but it would be no fun. Maybe if the drive would be several hours long and nobody else was around…

"Okay, get ready." Alice told Brandon. "Don't hold your breath yet, just get used to it."

I pulled my hand out of Caleb's- he had been fine with holding it the entire car ride, maybe Brandon really was serious- and I opened the car door. Brandon did the same once I went around the car to his side. Once he opened it, I grabbed his wrist and he inhaled. He winced a little as he felt the burn.

"Man, that smells good. I can handle it." he said after a moment.

"You'll be fine." Alice agreed. "Oh, and use these. They'll dissolve after a few hours, they'll just make your eyes blue instead of red."

Brandon took the box she was handing him and put the contacts on. He blinked. "Annoying."

"Try to act human. Blink, fidget, breathe or pretend to breathe, that sort of thing."

We used the normal entrance and I grabbed Brandon's arm- the scent of human was much stronger in here.

"Just stop breathing if it's too much." I muttered in a voice too low and fast for a human to hear. He nodded.

"I got it. I think we'll be okay unless I meet someone bleeding."

"That would be bad." I agreed. There was also a slight chance that if that happened, Caleb, Sylvia, or I might give us away. But Alice didn't see that happening.

I noticed Brandon did hold his breath as we used the elevator. As we were trapped in a box with two humans, I imagine he didn't want to risk it. People normally automatically avoided us.

We came to the door of their room. I glanced to Alice for confirmation, and she nodded, but not before saying "Be prepared to get tackled."

I chuckled and opened the door. As soon as I had gotten five feet into the room, I was indeed tackled. Of course I saw it coming, with my vision.

"Kristi!" my aunt cried. I gently hugged her back, and she let go, but held me at arm's length.

"Hi, aunt Kayla." I said as I looked over her face, her brown eyes and long brown hair, the face of one of my favorite aunts. I had really missed her too.

She frowned. "What did they do to you? You look beautiful, but I'm guessing that wasn't-"

My dad coughed and aunt Kayla stopped. They must have warned her I didn't like talking about it. I went to him and gave him a hug. He was in a wheelchair now, and my mom was on crutches.

"Is Brandon here?" he asked.

"Yes, he'll be in in a sec." I was about to add I wanted aunt Kayla to get used to me first, except I had no reason for knowing she was here beforehand. I gave my mom a hug.

"We've missed you so much… is he alright?"

"He's fine. Doing really well."

"Is this hard?" Mom asked.

I nodded. "In a way, yes."

"Why? What happened?" my aunt asked, worried.

"Um… well, the thing that happened to me… of all the people that went missing, that weren't confirmed dead, they were eventually killed too." My mom winced- she and dad already sort of knew this, but it was hard to hear. My aunt looked concerned as I almost casually said the words- almost. "I survived along with two others, and we've been staying together. Brandon stayed with us too, and he wanted to be like us to help support me. Don't try to guess what happened, because it's not what you think, and you might think it's worse than it really is." Doubtful. "I just don't want you to worry."

I could read the expression on my parents' faces. Someday you will have to tell us exactly what happened. We will keep worrying until you do.

I smiled at them apologetically, and went to open the door. Caleb and Sylvia came in, closely followed by Brandon. Probably to prevent our aunt from trying to hug Brandon before he was prepared. I saw him take a small breath and hold it as he went to hug her. I felt bad for him. Even if his throat wasn't burning because of our hunt, and even if he held his breath, the sound of their heartbeats would be incredibly appealing.

"Don't you ever leave like that again. I was worried sick until your parents told me you had been found by Kristi… very lucky, now that I think about it. It's such a big city…"

I shuddered, thinking about what might have happened if we hadn't found him. Not that staying with us was any safer.

"How did you-" she stopped again. She was obviously dying to ask questions, and I felt bad for her. I sighed.

"I guess you can ask questions. I'll answer the ones I can."

"Were you really… kidnapped?"

"Yes."

"By whom?"

"Nobody who is alive anymore."

"Where were you?"

"I'm not completely sure."

"What did they do to you?"

"I can't say."

Aunt Kayla frowned. "You can't or won't? Don't feel pressured, I just want to know what happened."

"Both. The changes were mostly physical. Mentally, I'm still the same person."

"And Brandon was… changed?"

I turned to him. You okay? I mouthed. He nodded, and Aunt Kayla released him. He went to hug Mom and Dad.

"Are you alright?" she asked, feeling his cold, stone hard arm. Brandon nodded.

"I'm great."

"But your eyes…." Dad noticed they were different from the others.

"They did change. I'll show you later."

Dad seemed confused, but Brandon pointedly glanced at aunt Kayla. Dad nodded, but still seemed confused as to what- and why- we were hiding something like eye color.

We continued talking for a few more minutes until our aunt had to leave. She paused on her way out the door.

"Kristi, Brandon… if you need somewhere to stay, you can stay with me. I'd love having both of you, and I could take your friends too, if they need somewhere to stay."

I smiled. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I think we'll be fine, Mom and Dad only have a couple more days here, right?" I checked, and my parents nodded.

"Alright. I love you." She went out the door.

"What did happen to your eyes?" Dad asked Brandon, and I laughed.

"You're persistent. They look crazy now, but they'll fade to this color later."

Mom looked worried. "There is something worse than… gold? I've seen the doctor with black eyes before."

Brandon took out the contacts and turned to our parents. Mom gasped and Dad flinched as they saw his crimson irises.

"Creepy, right?" Brandon said before putting the contacts back on. "I know you want to know everything, but it isn't safe. Our eyes turn gold, but some don't, and if you see someone with red eyes, run in the opposite direction."

"That's taking it a little far." I commented. Brandon shrugged.

"What, I want them to be safe… actually, it won't make a difference if you see someone with red eyes. You're probably-"

I glared at him with enough force to make him stop. These golden eyes could still be pretty scary.

Alice watched us, concerned, then suddenly shook her head, as if she was trying to clear an image from her head… a vision.

"Hold your breath, a bleeding human is going to pass by the door." she said in a low, fast voice.

I quickly stopped the air coming in and out of my lungs and exchanged a panicked glance with Caleb. We each grabbed one of Brandon's arms as he stopped breathing as well. We heard footsteps pass by. Ten tense seconds later, Alice started breathing again, and the rest of us did as well. Caleb and I held on to Brandon for three more seconds before releasing him.

"What was that?" Dad asked.

"Nothing important." Sylvia said. "Just something that could have been dangerous for… er…. us. Especially Brandon because he's the youngest, I mean the newest."

"If this is causing problems, you should go." Mom urged gently. Alice shook her head.

"That isn't safe yet. In a few minutes." Of course, the smell would be stronger in the hall. Even so, I could smell a hint of it…. No. Focus. I shook my head.

"How are you adjusting to this, Brandon?" Mom asked. "Is that okay to talk about?"

"Um… sort of. Apparently I'm doing really well, so that's good. I'm enjoying it, and it certainly is making it easier for Kristi."

I nodded in agreement. His blood could no longer tempt me.

"Would it make it easier if we were like you? I get the feeling that there is much more to this than we know. Plastic surgery does not help people live together better, as far as I know." my dad joked.

I shook my head, trying steady myself. "No, no, you're not doing that… you don't need to…" I couldn't finish my sentence.

Mom saw the panic in my eyes. "But would it make it easier?"

I winced. "Not at first. But… yes. It would make things easier."

Brandon snorted. "Understatement of the year."

"Too late, you won that award in our first conversation about my changes."

Brandon took a moment to remember my description of the transformation process, his reply to it, and compare it to his all-too-clear memories of his. He shuddered. "Yeah, you're right. But it would make everything a whole lot easier."

"That wasn't our plan!" I hissed in a low voice.

"What? You don't think they could deal with it?"

"I have no idea. But they have to know what they're getting into. And if they learn that and don't change, they'll die."

"What is going on?" Dad asked again. We should have made our argument a little quieter.

"Nothing. It's… not going to happen."

"But we want to know everything."

"No, you don't. As you probably heard, if you learn our secret, you have to become one of us."

"But maybe not if…" Alice looked at Brandon.

"Really?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe I'll take my chances."

"What are you talking about?" I mouthed to him.

"Nothing. An idea. Maybe I'll tell you sometime. Kristi, I know you're mostly happy with this life, but you don't want to force it on others, and I respect that. I also know that this was involuntary for you- "

"New understatement of the year." Sylvia interrupted.

"- and you had a much different experience than I did. But I wanted to change, didn't I? And I'm totally happy with my decision. No regrets. I think they would be willing to do this. They won't be raised in an-" Brandon stopped and glanced at our parents. "Sorry. Just saying."

Alice closed her eyes for a moment. "I think it's safe to leave now. Thank you for being understanding, I know this is really frustrating and confusing. We'll come back soon."

Mom nodded, still looking concerned. "It's all right."

I hugged her and Dad, and Brandon did too- very carefully.

"We love you." I said as we went out the door.

 **A/N: Thanks all for reading so far! The chapters might start coming a little slower now, because my posting has caught up to my writing, but I'm still writing!**


	20. Chapter 18

One week later, I found myself running to our apartment in Seattle and stealing our car.

More accurately, I ran to the edge of Seattle, walked to my parents' house, took the elevator upstairs, got the keys to the car that wasn't smashed in the accident, and drove to the hospital to take my parents home. I was glad to find my license and wallet were at home. Riley had probably left our things in the street when he kidnapped us, then the police or something found them when they searched for us. Of course, that got me thinking about what it must have been like for my parents the night I was taken. I shuddered and thought about other things as I pulled into the hospital parking lot. It had been really irritating driving at the speed limit, I'd noticed.

I checked the phone again to make sure I hadn't gotten any last-minute messages from Alice saying the future had been changed. It hadn't, and I went inside. Mom was now fine, and Dad was on crutches. They had wanted to go home as soon as one of them could walk normally, to make things easier. Dad still had another couple of weeks, but there was no way they were going to stay in the hospital any longer.

Mom and Dad seemed happy on the ride home. Mom drove, while I sat in the back. Caleb, Sylvia, and Brandon were already at the apartment. We had decided, with the support of Alice, that this would be the best day to spend with our parents as we helped them get back into the swing of things.

I pulled into the parking lot, and we got out and went up the elevator.

"It's good to be home!" Mom exclaimed as we went through the door, and I chuckled. She and Dad looked around.

"You didn't clean everything, did you?" Dad scolded. I shrugged.

"It wasn't that hard." Not with vampire speed. But the food… long story short, it isn't fun to clean out fridges that have had food sitting in them for a month. Add that to the fact that even normal human food seemed repulsive… I shuddered at the memory.

Dad limped through the doorway. "I'll make an early lunch." he said.

"Um, Dad, we don't have any food." I reminded him. He opened the door to the fridge to check how far my statement went. Most of the perishable items were gone.

"That's not a big deal, I'll head to the grocery store." Mom said. I smiled- she was in a good mood. She must be so happy to be home.

"I'll come with you, I can help." I suggested. I waved to Caleb, Sylvia, Brandon, and Dad before following Mom out the door.

"What do we need?" Mom asked. I shrugged again as I got in the car. My memories of food and eating were fairly foggy.

"Probably just staples. Bread, milk, eggs…"

"Do you have any paper? I have a pen…"

"I think I can remember anything."

Mom, having more experience coming up with shopping lists, came up with what we needed as we drove.

"Can you think of anything else?" she checked. "Is there anything you want or need?"

"No, I think I'm good." I wouldn't be eating anything we were getting.

We got out of the car and went into the store.

"What do we need first?"

"Bread, milk, eggs, jam…" I rattled off a long list and Mom stared at me. "Um… I have good memory."

Mom blinked and we got everything we needed. She tried talking to me as we shopped.

"Is there anything you wanted to tell me that you couldn't in front of your friends or your father?" she checked.

I shook my head. "Not in particular."

"Could you give me some details of what happened?"

I laughed. "You're right, somehow it is easier to talk to one person. I'll tell you what happened, but keep in mind I'm leaving out major details here, so don't freak out. And this information doesn't change anything."

She nodded at me. "Go on."

"Okay… Sylvia and I were going to get ice cream, like I told you. We took a wrong turn and… someone… knocked us out. We woke up in a house, on an island actually, outside of Seattle."

"Where?"

"I'm not sure. But it isn't there anymore, it burned to the ground. We were there with probably all the people that were missing, not killed. They were mostly teens like us. At one point, someone set the house on fire, and we relocated to somewhere else."

I paused to pull a gallon of milk off of a shelf in the refrigerated section. "Then the person who was... keeping us there… told us about an enemy… um… I'm not sure about that part. What he told us didn't make much sense, but his friend, who turned us into what we are now, wanted revenge on this other group of people, so they took us to fight them. Caleb, Sylvia, and I escaped the fight, helped by the doctor, and everyone else on our side was killed."

"Where did the doctor come in?"

I grabbed a few more groceries before answering her question, allowing Alice time to call if I was making a bad decision. "I guess it's more accurate to say our creator wanted revenge on a certain person, and Carlisle was one of the people protecting her. The person 'babysitting' us just said the entire group was going to attack us if we didn't get them first."

"Where were you staying later?"

"The place is still there…" I paused for another second. "It's actually where we're staying. We're not staying with the doctor's family, though they're certainly helping us."

"You're living alone?"

"Yeah, I guess so. But we can handle it. We are getting a little tired of the place. Bad memories, and it's no fun staying home all day."

"You are fine living with Caleb and Sylvia?"

"They're great, yeah."

"What about their families?"

"Caleb's parents started fighting, so he ran away from home and was taken. I don't think they or Sylvia's mom know they're alive. We came to see you because you were in the hospital and we figured it would help you recover if you saw us, even though we're different."

"Where did you find Brandon?"

"We were getting stuff from a store, and when we were walking back I ran into him in the street where he was taking shelter from the rain. Actually, it's more accurate to say he tackled me." I smiled at the memory, and Mom laughed as well when she visualized it. "The next day, or the day after, I think, we came to see you. And here we are."

Mom was silent for a moment, taking in the information.

"You sure you're fine, living with just the four of you?"

I nodded. "We're capable of taking care of ourselves."

"I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that… maybe if it were just you and Sylvia…"

I saw where she was going with that, and I was, for what felt like the thousandth time, grateful I couldn't blush. "It's not like that at _all,_ Mom. It's just…" I wasn't sure how to finish the sentence. "We're not… um… we're not doing anything we wouldn't do with adult supervision or anything like that. Just like living at home, except somewhere else."

Mom laughed at my nervousness. "Okay, I get it. But are you and Caleb…"

I groaned and leaned against the glass door to one of the freezers. "Okay, maybe we like each other a little."

Mom smiled. "I thought so, but I wasn't sure because I've seen you so little. How serious is it?"

"We've saved each other's lives a few times, I guess."

She looked concerned again. "What happened?"

"The first time, we didn't actually know each other, but I was being attacked by one of the other… people… we were staying with, and Caleb defended me. The second time was in the fight I told you about, and I sort of got Caleb out of the way of someone who was trying to get him."

"One of the friends of the doctor?"

"I guess so. They're nice, but we were kind of trying to get them at the same time. Nobody really had a choice, and we were technically the ones attacking first."

Neither of us said anything as we checked out the groceries. We put them in the car and climbed in.

"And by the way… I'm not having issues with this anymore. I was struggling a little for maybe a month or so after we escaped, but it just didn't feel right to tell you everything was fine. But the way you meant it, I am fine. Brandon is too."

"I don't suppose you'll tell me how or why he changed?"

"I can't. I'm sorry."

We pulled back into our parking lot and started unloading the groceries. There were probably seventeen grocery bags in all- I grabbed five in each hand. They weren't heavy, but my hands were only so large. I realized my mom was watching, holding three bags, so I put half of them down. We made two trips and got back up to the apartment. I turned to get the last couple, but mom held out her hand to stop me.

"I'll get it. I haven't gotten a chance to exercise in the hospital."

I laughed. "Okay. If you really want to, you can take the stairs."

"Maybe I will on the way down, but not back up all five flights." She shut the door behind her and I walked into the house. I helped Dad put away the groceries in the bags, then he started to make lunch. I walked into the hallway, into Brandon's room, where I saw my three fellow vampires on the floor playing a new board game. New for Caleb and Sylvia, anyway.

"Heads up, Dad's making lunch." I told them. "Try to eat it."

"Ugh." Caleb said. "That won't be fun."

I nodded in agreement. "You can finish your game, but I'm going to go back out. I don't want Dad to think we're avoiding him."

I sat on the couch in the living room, then heard knocking on the door.

"That'll be Mom." I said, getting up to open it. But instead of Mom, I saw a woman with short brown hair and hazel eyes, holding a large baking dish.

"Hey, I know you just got back from the hospital, so I thought I'd bring-"

She froze as she glanced up and saw that I was not my mother. I froze upon recognizing her, and therefore didn't catch the dish that she dropped, which shattered on the floor. I instinctively stopped breathing, but she wasn't bleeding, though some of the glass had hit my leg. She bent down to try to clean it up, flushing red with embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry, you just look like someone I knew-"

"Mrs. Harington." I said softly. The woman met my eyes and froze again.

"It is you, isn't it? Kristi." I nodded.

Dad limped into the room on his crutches. "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner. What happened?" he looked at the two of us and groaned. "Is anyone hurt? Do you need help?"

"I'm just fine. Actually, Caleb," I called, for the benefit of the humans, "Could you come here?"

I heard footsteps as he came into the room, and heard as he immediately stopped breathing when he took in the scene. "It's fine." I reassured him, and he breathed normally again.

"Do you know this person?" he checked. I nodded.

"Do you recognize her?" I whispered at vampire speed. He looked over her face, taking in her features.

" _Oh._ What…"

"Could you bring our friend in here?"

"Sure." he disappeared back into the hall.

"Come inside." I told the woman. "Sorry for startling you, I can clean up the mess." The woman was still speechless, taking in the implications. I kept a supportive hand on her shoulder a I led her inside. Caleb turned the corner, followed by a confused Sylvia. I heard the woman gasp as they entered.

"Sylvia?"

" _Mom!_ " Sylvia rushed forward at a nearly vampire speed and hugged her, sobbing. Like Brandon with me, Sylvia's mom was so happy to see her alive she didn't notice or care about her cold, hard skin and strange, beautiful features. I tried to quietly clean up the mess- I think it was lasagna- and Brandon came into the room.

"What on earth is going- oh." he said as he saw what happened. "Um… should I be here? It'll be aunt Kayla all over again."

"It's okay, you can stay." Just then, Mom showed up at the door, breathing slightly harder than normal and carrying two bags. She, too, paused for a moment, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Sylvia's mom showed up to bring dinner, but she saw me and she dropped it. Then Sylvia came in." I explained.

"Okay. Please, Shannon, sit down, we can explain everything." she said to Sylvia's mom.

"Lots of things. Not everything." I corrected as Sylvia led her to the couch. The two of them took a minute to calm down. I stood with Caleb off to the side. It would have been more human to sit, but Mom and Dad had the other couch and Brandon had the chair.

And then the questioning began. "Are you okay?"

Sylvia nodded, smiling. "Yes. I look different, but I'm still the same person."

"What happened?"

 _How much should I tell her?_ Sylvia mouthed to me.

 _As much or as little as you want, I guess._ I replied. I closed my eyes but felt nothing as she went through the memories of my conversation with Mom.

"Okay. Kristi and I were going to get ice cream after our movie the night before her birthday, we were knocked unconscious by someone, we woke up… different… long story short, we escaped with Caleb a few months later with some help, accidentally found Brandon who ran away after the crash, then visited Kristi's parents in the hospital. I wanted to see you too, but I didn't know if you would be okay with the way I changed. We just weren't sure if Kristi's parents would make it if they still thought she was dead."

"They're right." my Mom murmured to herself. She didn't intend for anyone to hear it, but of course over half the people in the room could, and we glanced at her.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

I smiled. Sylvia was a lot like her mom- very caring. Mrs. Harington didn't care what happened as long as Sylvia was okay.

"Yes. We're all fine. It won't happen again or anything, the people who were involved have been taken care of. The three of us were the only survivors, though. Is it okay if I stay with Kristi, Caleb, and Brandon? Our lifestyle has changed because of this and I don't want you to have to deal with it."

"I wouldn't mind."

"I know you wouldn't, but you still shouldn't have to deal with us."

"Why is Brandon different?" she asked, finally looking at the rest of us.

"He wanted to change to support Kristi." our dad said.

"Plus he didn't want to go back to live with our aunt." I muttered at vampire speed in a low voice. Caleb rolled his eyes and Brandon snorted.

"You know that's not how it works. I didn't want to live with her if I knew you were alive somewhere else."

"True, you're not a very good actor, you would have acted too happy." I agreed. The adults continued their conversation, oblivious to ours.

"Really? Is that painful, does it involve surgery?" Sylvia's mom asked. The four of us glanced at each other, unsure.

"We were unconscious for that part." I hazarded. "We don't understand it completely. We had help from a doctor for Brandon. But it was very painful."

All four of us winced at the memory. The parents noticed but didn't press it.

"Of all those people, you were really the only survivors?"

Sylvia nodded. "As far as we know. All the missing people, anyway, are dead."

We went silent, thinking of the others. And those that were known to be dead, as opposed to missing. I felt terrible about those, and found it hard to believe I had killed so many people, that I had _liked_ it. Even as I was surrounded by humans and their scent, I couldn't imagine taking another life.

"So…" Dad said, breaking the silence, "Does anyone want lunch?"

I grimaced, but the adults nodded assent. Brandon looked at me in panic.

"Sure, but we're not super hungry." I said for all of our benefit.

"We had a lot this morning." Caleb added, which was true. All our eyes were a bright gold, except for Brandon who was still using blue contacts.

We walked into the kitchen. I hoped I would be able to fake this- I had never tried, but I knew it was possible to eat human food. The question was if we could do it without making faces.

Sylvia's mom went red when she saw the mess in the garbage can. I grabbed Brandon's arm in warning, but he rolled his eyes at me.

"I'm sorry about that. I was going to bring you lasagna because I thought you wouldn't want to cook right after you got back…"

I laughed. "It's just fine. I'd drop something I was holding, too, if I saw someone I thought was dead. Especially when it implies a family member also isn't dead."

Dad had made BLTs, and so I grabbed half a sandwich, along with Brandon, Caleb, and Sylvia. I ate the whole thing, even though it was _wrong._ Crunchy, soft, juicy, and flavorful. Ugh. The others eyed theirs with apprehension, but ate politely when the adults looked their way. Each of them had a whole sandwich, and since Dad had originally made twelve halves, there were now two left.

"Do you want any more?" Dad asked. Brandon shook his head.

"We really did have a lot this morning."

"Don't try to be polite. You're teenage boys, you're always hungry." I teased. Caleb tried to protest, but Sylvia interrupted.

"Come on, you know you want it. Just take it." Sylvia prodded, smiling.

I almost burst into laughter as Caleb gave us a betrayed look and Brandon a murderous glare before taking the last sandwiches. Sylvia let out a small giggle.

"What's so funny?" Caleb growled, and I did erupt into laughter along with Sylvia. Once we had calmed down, the adults looked at us like we were crazy.

"Inside joke." I explained, and Sylvia snickered again.

"You know what? I really did have a lot this morning, but I know you're still hungry, Caleb. Want the rest?" Brandon asked, holding out the rest of his sandwich. Caleb shook his head.

"Thanks so much for the offer, but I'll pass."

The adults still looked pretty confused at our exchange, and so we cleared our plates and went into the living room. We chatted with the adults a while, they told us what had been going on while we were missing, with our friends and just in general. Sylvia, Brandon, and I appreciated it, but still insisted they not tell anyone we were alive, except maybe relatives.

Eventually Sylvia's mom had to leave. She had a dentist's appointment scheduled, not having planned on seeing her presumed-dead daughter again. Then we played a few family-plus-two-more games. I was almost tired of it, except it felt good to be able to do it with my parents again. We made sure to play games that dealt with only luck- if they had anything to do with speed or thinking, our difference would be even clearer. Even so, my parents noticed once as I threw down a couple of cards a little too quickly.

She laughed as she put hers on top. "You four must have an instinct for this sort of thing! It's inhuman!"

After a moment she realized that only Dad had laughed at the joke, and the rest of us were looking at each other awkwardly.

We continued the rest of the game normally, though in between turns I could almost see the gears in my parents' heads turning around the word 'inhuman.'

We hung around the house until a little past dinner. We didn't make any jokes about the pizza that was ordered, Brandon probably wouldn't have left me in one piece if I had. We stayed for another hour after that, but then we had to leave.

"Are you sure?" my mom asked. "You can all stay the night, we have room."

"Thanks, but we really should go." I said, leaning in to give her a hug goodbye. As I did, I could see the blood pumping under the skin of her throat…

I mentally shook myself. This was my _mother._ We really did have to go. I held my breath as I hugged Dad goodbye, and I watched Brandon as he did as well, but he was doing great at handling his thirst.

We promised we would visit again sometime, and went down the stairs and out of the building. When we did, we all took grateful gulps of fresh air. It wasn't that it was unpleasant being stuck in a room with humans- it was far too pleasant. Out here, the smell wasn't as strong, and the air was spoiled by car exhaust.

We ran home- I had conveniently forgotten to mention to my parents how we were getting back. Once we reached the forest, we hunted in celebration. We had spent longer periods of time with human Brandon before, but at least one of us would have hunted recently, and of course Brandon himself wasn't thirsty. Not to mention the fact that we hadn't done anything to give away our secret, and Sylvia's mom had learned her daughter was still alive. All in all, it had been a good day, and my spirits were even higher than usual as I chased down an elk, which of course smelled much worse than the humans had, but I didn't let it bother me.


	21. Another Bonus

**A/N: This one is from Brandon's point of view, starting the night of the prologue.**

I waved goodbye as Kristi and Sylvia walked out the door and towards the elevator, laughing at a joke one of them had told. I waited ten seconds until spinning to face my Mom, who was putting away what remained of dinner.

"Can I go now?" I asked quickly. Mom laughed.

"Go ahead. Be careful."

I grabbed my wallet and went out the door. I pushed the button for the elevator, and went down.

Kristi was going to a see a movie with her best friend, Sylvia Harington. It was also the night before her seventeenth birthday, and I didn't have a gift for her yet. I sort of did- there was this one book I had noticed that I thought she would really love, and it was the first in a series too- she liked that she could keep reading after the first book. I had wanted to get it for her for a while, but never had enough money with me. Now I did, and Kristi was gone. The bookstore would close in fifteen minutes, so I had to be fast. Luckily, it was only a block away, the opposite direction of where Kristi and Sylvia were going, so I got what I needed without any trouble.

I got home and wrapped it, then went to the living room and put it on the small table. I sat at the kitchen counter while my mom baked the birthday cake. Unfortunately, she knew exactly what I was trying to do, and didn't give me a chance to steal any of the batter.

I went to my room and texted some of my friends on my phone. A few of them were planning on coming to the birthday party tomorrow. Some of them just wanted to hang out, but though they never actually said it, I think one or two of them liked my sister. The thought made me want to gag.

I realized the movie was a late one, and waiting up for my sister wasn't going to be smart if I wanted to stay awake the next night too. So I did some of my homework (even though it was Friday, my mom had insisted from a young age that we do at least some of it so it wouldn't be as hard later, and now it was habit.) before hugging my parents good-night and going to bed.

…

I woke up later to footsteps and voices. I checked the clock- it was fifteen minutes until midnight. Kristi must be home. Now that I had woken up, there was no way I was going to fall asleep anytime soon. And if I got up now, I could wish her 'happy birthday' at midnight.

Decided, I got out of bed and went down the hallway to the living room. I didn't see Kristi, but the front door was closing.

"Hey, Dad, where's Kristi and Sylvia?" I asked. He chuckled.

"It started raining, of course, but they walked there, so your mother is going to pick them up."

"Oh." I said, understanding, and sat down to wait on the couch. After maybe ten minutes, Dad's phone beeped. He pulled it out, frowned at the text he saw, and answered it.

Fifteen minutes later- around ten minutes after midnight- the door opened again, and Mom came in. She was wet- she had clearly been walking around in the rain. Her eyes were wide, panicked. I stood up. Something was clearly wrong.

"What happened?" I asked.

She shook her head, and met my Dad's eyes, saying "I can't find Kristi and Sylvia."

My blood turned to ice as she finished breathlessly, on the edge of hysteria. "I went to the ice cream place they said they would be at, but didn't see them. I called and they didn't answer, so I texted checking if they had walked home. They hadn't so I called again and kept looking. I called three more times before the phone was answered by a woman who said she had found it on the ground when she heard it ring."

Dad froze for a moment. "I'll call the police." he decided, dialing on his phone. I turned to my mom.

"Let's go." I urged. "We have to keep looking."

She shook her head. "No. The police know how to take care of this. You could get hurt."

Panic started to take over. I couldn't just sit here and do nothing. They probably had taken a wrong turn and had both dropped their phones… Or maybe…

I couldn't just sit here or my mind would start coming up with worst-case scenarios. They could have run into the gang or serial killer that was murdering so many people!

I mentally slapped myself. This was exactly what I shouldn't be doing! I pulled out my math homework and made myself concentrate on the problems, but the distraction didn't work. I sat at the table with my head in my hands as my mother paced the kitchen and my father talked on the phone.

After a few minutes, two police showed up at our doorstep and my mom went with them, probably to show them where she had expected to see them, and where she had looked.

Half an hour later, Dad came over to where I was sitting. "Son, you need to get back to bed. It's late."

I shook my head. "No. I can't do that."

Dad sighed but didn't answer. We waited in silence. As the minutes passed, my panic grew.

At around three thirty in the morning, the two officers and Mom came back. I saw that Mom was sobbing and I leapt to my feet.

"Where are they?" I asked desperately. The officers looked at my father and I.

"All evidence shows that they are gone, possibly kidnapped or murdered." one of them said. My heart dropped to my stomach and the words bounced around in my head.

"We are truly sorry. Please be assured that we will continue searching for evidence."

I shook my head slowly in denial. That couldn't be right. People didn't just disappear, that only happened in movies. Or the newspaper. To someone else.

I sat numbly on the couch, refusing to accept that they were gone. That my sister was gone.

After waiting for a few more hours, during which I processed nothing that was happening around me, I fell asleep.

...

I opened my eyes to the dim light of a cloudy morning. Why was I on the couch? I thought back. A memory tickled me, but, recognizing it, I stuffed it back where it came from before I could complete the thought. I wandered around the house, saw the birthday presents on the table, the empty kitchen, empty living room, empty hallway, empty bathroom. I checked my watch- it was six forty five in the morning. Of course Kristi would still be asleep, but I had to check.

I stood a full minute outside her door, bracing myself. I opened it as quietly as I could and walked inside.

The bed was empty.

It hit me at full force at that moment. I collapsed to the floor, kneeling beside her bed.

"No…. _no."_ I sobbed. The world was ending. How could she be gone? Just like that? She was a solid part of my life. There had never been a moment- funny, embarrassing, or sad- that she hadn't known about or been a part of. Memories ran through my head- like how they say your life flashes before your eyes, but it was _her_ life. It wasn't fair. She hadn't done anything. Had I done something? I would do anything to have her back. _No._ She was gone. She wasn't coming back. None of the missing people had ever been found, if she had been attacked by this gang or serial killer.

I sat there for a minute, sinking in despair and grief. Why was this happening? Eventually someone entered the room. I didn't look up to see who it was. I realized it was my mom when her arms wrapped around me and her hiccuping sobs echoed my own.

The next week passed in a blur. I didn't go to school, and my Dad didn't go to work for the first few days. My friends stopped by a few times, but I ignored them. Sylvia's mom came by, too, and I at least attempted to pay attention to what was going on when she was here. At some point my mom made me eat something, and I did to please her, but it tasted like cardboard.

After the week, though, I had to go back to school. My teachers gave me homework to make up for the time I had lost, but I guessed it was probably a quarter of what they would have given me otherwise. They missed Kristi and Sylvia too.

I didn't bother participating in class, but I paid attention enough to understand. The months passed slowly, and things slowly started to get better. We smiled a little more often. The nightmares started to disappear. But I also read the newspaper more often- keeping my eyes peeled for anything new on the missing people. There were a few more every week, but even more that were confirmed dead. I knew I was grasping at straws- why should the missing people still be alive when the others weren't? They must not be able to find the bodies. I was starting to accept the fact that Kristi and Sylvia were dead, and I think our parents were too.

One day my parents decided they needed to make a greater effort to get back into society. They thought that maybe a change of scenery would help, but they weren't sure. They decided to spend a weekend at a friend's house- one of Dad's old college roommates. He lived in Forks, a small town on the Olympic Peninsula. My parents asked me if I wanted to come, but I refused. It felt like too much effort to pretend to be happy for someone I barely knew. I would be staying at my aunt's house instead. She had been really nice about the whole thing- she missed Kristi too, and I knew she wouldn't try to make me do anything I didn't feel like doing.

We drove to the other side of Seattle, where she also had an apartment. We went up the stairs and knocked on the door. It opened and aunt Kayla hugged me.

"It's good to see you. Come in."

I went inside and my parents discussed a few things while I put my stuff in the guest bedroom. I came back out and hugged them goodbye, and they took the stairs back down to the car.

I played a few board games with my aunt. I had just gotten here, so I felt a little better, but I knew that after a bit my mood would worsen.

We had dinner- spaghetti- and watched a movie. Then I went to bed.

I was shaken awake what felt like only a few minutes later.

"What time is it?" I muttered.

"Five thirty in the morning." My aunt replied urgently. I sat up, alert.

"What's going on?"

She was silent for a moment before answering. "Your parents got into a car accident on the way to Forks."

I froze in shock. "Are they okay?" I asked shakily.

"They're alive." she replied, and I collapsed on the bed again in relief. "We need to go see them in the hospital."

"Uh-huh." I muttered. I willingly got up and changed. Might as well play along. This was far too similar to the dreams I had been having lately, but I could never figure out how to wake up from them. I followed my aunt to the car after grabbing a banana to eat for breakfast. We spent the car ride in silence, my aunt tense, me tired. Couldn't she tell this was obviously a dream?

We pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and went to the visitor's entrance. I waited while my aunt spoke to the receptionist and we were escorted by a nurse. I glanced around, confused and curious about all the fancy equipment. We were led through a final set of doors into another machine-filled room. There was a doctor in the room… and two beds.

My parents were in the beds, covered in bandages and linked up to various machines.

This was no nightmare. This was far, far too vivid.

I stumbled backwards in shock, and almost fell to the ground, but I was saved by a pair of strong arms. It was the doctor- he had a strange shade of golden eyes, blond hair, and looked really young. In his early twenties, maybe. He had skin so pale it was almost white, and shadows under his eyes. His nametag said _Dr. Cullen._

"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned. I nodded weakly.

"Yeah… It's just a shock… and I just lost my sister, too…"

The golden eyes were sympathetic. "Don't lose hope yet. There is still a strong chance your parents will pull through."

I didn't process the rest of the visit or the car ride home. When I got to the room I was staying in, I collapsed again, sobbing. First Kristi, and now my parents? Who else could I possibly lose?

I heard my aunt moving around the house, and I suddenly didn't want her comforting me. I wanted to be alone. I knew that if I told her so, she wouldn't listen. Not for very long, anyway. I grabbed my backpack, stuffed an extra blanket into it, and when I heard my aunt enter the bathroom, I left through the front door. Though first I left a note on my bed asking for her not to look for me. I would come back when I felt like it. knew this wouldn't be easy on her.

When I reached the street, I started running. I didn't really know where. Eventually I realized I was going to get lost if I kept going, so when I saw a gas station with a convenience store, I slowed down and turned into a space between two buildings. Normally, it would have been too similar to a dark alley for my liking, but right now I didn't care.

I sat there for the rest of the day and through the night. It got cold, and I was glad I had brought the extra blanket. The next morning, however, I was hungry, so I went to the convenience store to grab a bag of chips.

I sort of wandered around the block for a bit, then returned to my original place. I goofed around on my phone for a bit, but it held no appeal. Eventually, the little amount of sleep I had gotten the night before got to me, and I fell asleep.

When I woke up, it was dark, in the middle of the night. I glanced at my watch- there were a few hours left until the sun would rise. I sat up, my back against the wall of the building, and rested my head on my knees.

What was I doing here? Why did I think that being here would solve anything? All I had done was cause my aunt even more worry. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. I couldn't keep breaking down every time I started thinking about Kristi or my parents.

I heard quiet footsteps and felt a small prick of fear. Of course, I had just put myself in the same situation Kristi had been in. It didn't matter that all the disappearances and murders had stopped a month ago, there were still other people out there. My heartbeat sped up, but I kept my head down. Maybe if I appeared to be asleep whoever it was would ignore me.

The footsteps got closer, and soon they sounded right in front of me. I couldn't help myself, I peeked up to see if whoever it was was going to do anything.

I saw little more than the outline of the face in the dim light of the streetlamp, but it was enough. The face turned my direction and my heart stopped. I was frozen, unable to convince myself I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. The person I was looking at froze as well, mid-stride. Some other part of my mind noticed there were two more people when one of them spoke.

"Kristi-" one of the dark figures said in a warning voice. If my heart could have stopped again it would have.

"Kristi?" I whispered, almost to myself. I silently pleaded with the girl to answer yes. If I was wrong…

"Brandon." the girl said, her own voice barely above a whisper.

That was it. I leapt to my feet and threw my arms around her, hugging her as tightly as I could. My breath hitched and tears started pouring down my cheeks again.

 _She's alive! She's alive she's alive she's alive!_

I heard Kristi start sobbing as well as she hugged me back. Her arms were cold as ice, and hard. There was something wrong- was this another dream? I couldn't bear it if it was. It was vivid like the one with my parents had been, but I couldn't be sure. I hugged her even tighter, and we both continued sobbing for another minute.

One of the other people must have said something, and Kristi gently let me go, but still held on to my shoulder as she backed up at arm's length. I got a good look at her face for the first time. She was still hiccuping, but her face was pale, and there were no tears that I could see. Her skin was smooth, and there were shadows under her eyes. I couldn't see her eyes themselves very well, but they weren't blue anymore, they were something else.

"What happened to you?" she said, and her voice rang and shimmered like the pealing of bells. I smiled, amused that _she_ was the one asking. Couldn't she see herself?

"I could ask the same… but yeah, a lot has happened."

"Why are you here? You should be at home. This isn't safe." she said, concerned.

I sighed. "I know. I've been living like this for a day or so."

"Days?" she hissed. "What happened?"

"Well…" I took a shuddering breath. "First you disappeared. Of course, we all assumed you were dead. The murders and such going on...we thought you were victims. Your names might have shown up in the paper."

Kristi winced.

"Of course, we were all really upset." I took another deep breath. "Things started to get a little better after a few months. We were coping with it for a few weeks… and then a few days ago Mom and Dad were driving up to Forks to visit a friend or something. They got into a car crash and got stuck at the hospital there. Then it was just too much… I ran away."

She leaned forward to hug me again. I held her back, but she was _cold._ "Thanks. You're really cold… are you sick or something?"

She winced again. "Yeah… or something. Have you seen Mom and Dad since the crash?"

I nodded. "Yeah, they're hanging in there. They'll feel better once they know you're alive. Even though you're… different. You actually kinda look like one of the doctors there. What _happened_ to you?"

Kristi frowned. "What do you mean, I look like one of the doctors?"

"White skin, gold eyes, shadows under your eyes, face like a supermodel."

Kristi snorted at my description, but her eyes were narrowed.

"Carlisle." One of Kristi's companions suddenly spoke. I gave a little jump out of shock- it was Sylvia. She was alive too.

"We know the doctor. We should visit your parents." she said to me, though she seemed to be speaking to Kristi at the same time, almost as if she was asking permission or something.

"Um, Sylvia, first of all I'm not sure about that. Second, we're talking about a _hospital._ You can see why that isn't a good idea?" There seemed to be a hidden meaning behind Kristi's words… maybe they didn't want to be seen in public, because they were supposed to be missing.

But why wouldn't they want to be found?

Sylvia sighed. "I know, but we'll have to risk it. Brandon's right, knowing you're alive could be what helps them pull through."

Kristi turned to me, panic in her eyes. "It's bad, isn't it? Really bad."

I frowned, thinking back. "I don't really… yeah, I think so." I said hesitantly.

"They must be already weak after losing you." Sylvia said. Kristi glanced at her, and seemed to take her seriously. Did she know something we didn't?

Kristi nodded. "Thank you, Brandon… we have to go."

Shock went through my mind. She was _leaving?_ After all we had gone through, she was going to stay away?

"No!" I cried, grabbing her arm. She couldn't leave me again, even if this was only a dream. I missed her, and if this wasn't real, I still wanted as much as I could get. "You can't leave me here. I don't want to go home without any of you there. Take me with you."

The three people froze. The third, a boy a little older than Kristi who had dark hair, pale skin and shadows under his eyes, spoke. "Kristi… I'm not sure that would be safe. Especially after a few days."

"Why don't we do it just for a few days?" Kristi asked. "We can figure out what to do with him after we talk to Carlisle."

"What do you mean, 'figure out what to do with him'?" I interrupted, getting a little frustrated and confused. "Why can't I stay with you? Where are you staying, anyway?"

Kristi sighed. "Brandon, I know this is all really weird. Believe me, I would love to tell you exactly what is going on. You'll just have to trust me. There is a reason for all of this."

"Why can't you tell me?" I demanded. "I can keep a secret."

"Brandon," Sylvia said, "It's not so much that you can keep a secret. It's just that knowing the secret will put you in danger. You'll have to change like us to stay safe."

"So? You're alive. I can't leave you again. Big deal, I look different." I said, a little desperately.

"It's a lot more than skin and eye color, Brandon." The boy warned. "We can't tell you what else changes or you'll have to change."

"Maybe not…" Sylvia said cautiously. Her eyes were unfocused for a moment. "It was an accident _they_ learned that Bella knew. I think there are more people than we know who know the secret without being one of us. They weren't originally planning on changing Bella, but _they_ found out and they have to now. If _they_ find us, we can promise we'll change him. Only if we have to."

Her statement completely baffled me. The guy looked at me, as if measuring me, and I tried to look innocent and trustworthy.

"All right, we can give it a shot. Only if you're okay with it, Kristi." he decided.

Kristi looked back at me. I held my breath as she stared into my eyes. I realized her eyes were a yellowish shade of gold. But I didn't care. _Please. Don't leave me._ I pleaded silently.

"You can come with us." she said. I hugged her in relief.

"Thank you." I said fervently.

"Do we tell him back at home or here while he can still run?" Kristi asked her companions.

"The house." Sylvia suggested. "This might take a while, and if it does we don't want to be caught in daylight."

I frowned, trying to search for the meaning behind her words… their skin was so much paler. Maybe it was extra-sensitive to the sun.

"Okay, let's go. Do you have anything you want to take with you?" Kristi asked me.

I shook my head. "I can go now."

"Follow us." the guy said, and we continued down the dark alleyway out of the city. He and Sylvia led the way. Their obvious sense of confidence calmed me down.

"You know, most people are scared of walking down dark alleyways at night." I commented to Kristi. "What are you guys?"

She smiled grimly. "I suppose increased confidence is one of the perks of being us. You're right, we aren't afraid of anybody who would try to give us trouble here… I'd almost like to see them try."

I blinked in surprise. What a weird thing to say, and a little scary. It was completely out of character for my sister. Something had changed. I ran through possibilities in my head, from movies and books, mostly. None of them seemed plausible, but I had to start guessing somewhere.

"You weapon dealers or something?"

Kristi laughed in surprise."Not even close. But I'll tell you this- it is really dangerous for you to stay with us. Really dangerous. We'll all be taking extra precautions, but even so you could die."

I shivered. "Why, you have ugly friends back at home who might not like me much?"

She snorted. "None of our friends are ugly. And the three of us live alone. But hopefully you will only be staying with us for only a few days and the doctor can figure something out."

I sighed sadly. "You really don't want me? Why are you trying to get rid of me?"

She put her hand on my shoulder again. "Believe me, I wish you could stay with us forever. Literally. But when a small mistake could get you killed… it's not a good idea to push our luck."

No wonder she wasn't eager to come back home. It seemed like she had changed, but I was confident she was still the same person. There was something affecting her that changed things, but beneath that she was the same. I somehow knew that if I could find out what that something was, our relationship could go back to the way it was before she disappeared. She clearly remembered me, and missed me really badly. If she was going through something, I would help her get over it, no matter the cost. I missed her too, and so did our parents. Resolved, I continued questioning her.

"So, I could get killed, but nobody else lives with you? Is the house storage for bombs or something?"

"The house is fine."

"Then what would kill me?" I said, confused.

"This is the part where you might want to run away screaming. One of us would kill you."

I frowned. "But you would protect me, right?"

"I hope so. If the wrong accident happens, I might be the one to kill you."

Whoah. I could feel it- we were getting closer to her secret. I was still convinced she was the same person underneath… but this secret was even bigger than I had guessed.

"But why?" I asked.

"When you hunt, it doesn't matter who it is who is about to die. You forget everything… but we're trying to be different. Believe me, if we were normal, you would already be dead. Sorry."

"Again, hunt? Kill? What have you become? You used to be against violence in any way, shape, or form." I said, now really concerned.

"You'll find out when we're back at the house. The only reason we're different is because we do hate violence. It might even be the reason we're still alive."

"What, there were more of you?" I asked, incredulous. I guess it made sense- were all the missing people changed into this? My head started to clear a little more.

"Yep. We liked peace, so our enemies who are actually the good guys let us go. We trust them more than we trusted those we lived and fought with. It was a risk coming home every day. Again, we're really lucky we survived. We were almost destroyed a few times."

"We spilling the beans on everything, Kristi?" the dark-haired boy called back.

"Why not?" my sister replied. "If he knows the big secret, he won't get in any more trouble by knowing a few smaller ones. They aren't really secrets, but they'll help him understand what he's really dealing with."

The teenage boy made no further comment.

"You disappeared during the time when all those people were being murdered." I prodded.

"Yes. It has everything to do with that. We were victims, but they changed us into the perpetrators. We got lucky."

"You mean, you actually did kill people? It would almost be better if you were dead!" I cried, alarmed.

Kristi winced, and I got a good look at her face. She looked incredibly remorseful, almost to the point of pain. "That's kinda the point. And that's what the people who used to be our enemies kind of thought too. That's why we're different. Yes, we killed people, but we didn't have a choice. We didn't know any other way. We were horrified by what we'd become. Like I said, we're different. We haven't mastered it yet, we've only been trying for a month, actually. But the others… if worst comes to worst, I'm fairly sure you could live with them and not be killed. They have someone like you who practically lives with them. But she will become one of them soon."

"She wants to become a killer?" I checked.

"Not a killer. She wants to be different, too. In fact, as far as I can tell, she's afraid of how many times she'll slip up. But nobody in their family has killed in decades."

"Decades? How old are they?"

"Here's the thing- the doctor you met is their leader. The oldest. He's never killed anybody."

I thought back, bringing up the image of his face in my mind. "He's the oldest, at thirty at the latest, but his younger family members haven't killed in decades?"

"You'll understand when you learn the secret. I can't say more right now. We're going to start running now."

We had followed Sylvia and the dark haired guy out of the city during the course of the conversation, and we were on the edge of it, where civilization turned to wilderness.

"Run? Are we trying to escape or something?"

"No, it's just faster and more convenient." The guy said, turning. "We'll have to find a way for you to keep up…"

"How about Brandon rides on Kristi's back?" Sylvia suggested.

"Good idea." Kristi agreed. "But first, let's only run a short distance. Brandon, this is one of the things that makes us different from you. If you want to run away, let me know, and I'll take you back to the city."

"Okay…" I said apprehensively as she knelt so I could get on her back. "But what about your friend… Sorry, what's your name?"

"I'm Caleb." Caleb replied.

"Yeah, him. I thought you couldn't carry me? If you're running, how can you possibly keep up with them?"

Kristi grinned her old smile. It comforted me, reassured me that she really was there. "I love being me most of the time. Watch and learn, little brother." She gestured for me to get on. I put my hands on her shoulders.

"You sure?"

"You're going to want to hold on tighter than that. Go ahead and stick your arms around my neck, you won't strangle me." She grabbed my legs and stood up smoothly, as if the fact that I was probably heavier than she was meant nothing. "Let's go. Brandon, let me know if you want to stop. You can watch if you want, but I would recommend closing your eyes."

I kept his eyes open, not wanting to miss anything that could help me solve the puzzle. Kristi sighed, the sound was exasperated but also seemed to have a hint of pride. "Okay, go." she said. Caleb and Sylvia seemed to vanish. I said "Whoa" but Kristi started running a second after them. She ran for about ten seconds, the trees blurring around us, the wind whistling through my ears and making my eyes water, before she slowed to a stop.

"You still good?" she checked nervously. I nodded. "That was awesome. I really miss you, Kristi. This is a really weird dream." That was the only plausible explanation. That and one other.

Kristi laughed darkly. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. But it's not a dream. I learned that when I learned I would never wake up again."

"That sounds really morbid. Are you dead? The undead? Like a zombie?"

"No. Unfortunately, that was your closest guess so far. You still coming?"

That confirmed the second theory, which freaked me out for a moment, but I reminded myself why I was doing this.

Kristi was not human.

"Okay." She broke back into a run, holding tight to me. She caught up to Caleb and Sylvia, who had paused to wait and see if we were coming. They broke into a run beside us.

"How can you see anything?" I yelled as they darted through the forest.

"We have good eyesight."

"You wear glasses. And good eyesight doesn't help when you go too fast to see things in the first place." I protested. I went back to my theory- the world as I knew it had turned upside down. "Is that why your eyes are gold? Magic contacts?"

"No contacts. And I'm fairly sure it's not really magic involved."

"I meant for that to be a sarcastic comment. You're _fairly sure_?" I choked.

We slowed down. I spotted a log cabin-ish sort of house through the trees. "Yes, fairly sure." Kristi replied. "You okay? Motion sick or anything?"

I slid off her back, then crumpled to my knees, a little dizzy. "Uh-huh… just a sec." I moaned.

Sylvia mouthed something under her breath.

"We won't. We'll have to be really careful. Just a few days until we can contact Carlisle." Kristi said.

"How'd you hear what she said?" I mumbled.

"We have good hearing." Caleb replied.

I snorted. "Of course you do. This is a really cool dream, I hope I never wake up. I didn't know I was this creative."

"When you figure out this isn't a dream, you'll be begging to wake up." Kristi growled.

"Uh-huh." She growled? What was going on?

"We've all killed people. This isn't all cool."

"What are you?"

Kristi and her friends exchanged glances. "Do you think it would be better if we told him or made him guess?" she asked. Sylvia thought for a moment. "Make him guess." she suggested.

She turned back to me as I got up and brushed off the dirt."Your undead zombie guess was the closest." she said cautiously. "Maybe you can figure it out from there. But some of what you know about us isn't true. Most of it is, though."

She took a few steps back… giving me room?

"Okay, what have I noticed so far?" I asked.

"Cold, hard skin, gold eyes, speed, good hearing and eyesight, strength, fearlessness for everything except ourselves killing you, and we look like supermodels." Sylvia rattled off. She frowned. "I suppose I mentioned we didn't want to be caught it daylight too. And remember the fact that the doctor is different like us. Most of us are completely baffled as to how he has enough control to work in a hospital. But it's a good thing- his enhanced senses help save lots of lives."

I was silent for a moment. They had given me a lot of information when they put it together like that. "You said part of what I know is myth."

"Speaking of which," Kristi interrupted, "I did also make that comment about never waking up again. That proves some of the myths aren't true. The most important and commonly known stuff involves the day thing and the doctor thing." she hinted. I nodded. They couldn't sleep, but I was supposed to think they did. They couldn't be out during the day, and Dr. Cullen shouldn't be a doctor.

"I'm scared but this is also starting to feel like twenty questions. You mentioned you don't kill people, but you still mentioned something about extra hunting."

"Animals." Kristi clarified. "Here's another clue- our eyes are gold because of the animals. If we went back to people, our eyes would be red." she frowned. "I think I said too much. How do I explain without giving it all away?"

"Don't worry, you lost me with the eyes thing." I said. "Why don't I just go through all the myths I know? Are you some sort of gods, Greek, Roman, Egyptian or something?"

Kristi snorted. "No. But Riley did tell us we were once. Riley 'babysat' us and around twenty others. We were created by someone named Victoria, but that means nothing to you."

"Okay… superheroes?" I said, moving on.

"No. Try thinking more along the lines of the bad guys." she suggested.

"Okay, not zombies. Is it a futuristic thing? Zombie apocalypse, robots sort of thing?" She didn't look like there were wires in her, but I wasn't sure.

"Nope. Our kind have been around a really long time."

"Ghosts?"

"Closer."

"Werewolves?"

Kristi smiled nervously and exchanged glances with her friends. "Even closer. I might have fought a few, but that's not us."

"You _fought_ a few? Seriously? I'll admit that openly admitting werewolves exist freaks me out more than the changes I've seen." Speculating was one thing, but this...

"Then maybe you should stop guessing. Just go with it." Kristi suggested. She sounded a little desperate.

"That bad?"

"I'm sorry, the burn is coming back a little." Sylvia said. "I'll be back in a few minutes. I barely feel it, just being careful." She vanished into the woods and I watched carefully, putting this new incident with my other clues.

"Burn?" I asked. "What burn?"

"Um… it indicates… we haven't hunted in a while, I guess."

"Like fire?"

"It feels like it if it gets too bad."

"So… like you're being burned? Like a witch?" They used to burn them at stake all the time. Had they actually been real?

"No. Just…" Kristi hesitated. "on our throats."

"Burning throats. Like your neck is on fire or like you're thirsty?" I checked.

Kristi swallowed nervously. "The second one." She took another step back.

"And it indicates you haven't hunted… animals, people…" I muttered to himself. "Thirsty… but what could you possibly..."

Thirsty, hunting. Daylight. People. It snapped into place and I slapped my hand to my throat in horror. Kristi backed up again, so she was now maybe twenty feet from me. The expression on her face was miserable.

"But… you smiled…" had they found a way to remove their fangs?

"Some parts are myth." she reminded me sadly. "Don't be afraid, we really are trying our best to keep you alive."

"You know what I guessed. Am I right?" I asked, looking back and forth between her and Caleb. I backed into a tree.

"If you would prefer to run away screaming, let me know and I'll take you back to Seattle so you don't get lost." she offered. I shook my head slowly. She sighed sadly, a tortured expression on her face. "I know I can keep in control long enough to get you back." she said.

"No… it's okay, I believe you. I can handle it… just give me a moment, I learned that my older sister isn't dead, and she's actually…" I shook my head. "I think I've just received a lot of shocking news today. Tonight. Whatever." I leaned against the tree, and closed my eyes. I could almost sense the two vampires in the clearing. I was glad I could hear their breathing, it would have been a little creepy if I felt alone. They could be stalking me, but I kept my eyes shut. There was no point in running or hiding, I could tell instinctively.

Yes, they were vampires. I considered the fact. They hadn't done anything strange except for demonstrating enhanced speed, strength, and senses. None of them had mentioned thirsting for my blood… except Sylvia mentioning she wanted to be careful. But it didn't sound like she wanted to attack me, she was just afraid she was going to.

Everything fell into place. Kristi was the same person, probably. She had a valid reason for being afraid to have me near her. I assumed she would want to drink my blood if I started bleeding, and therefore she might be the one to kill me. I resolved to stay away from all sharp objects.

Then I remembered the doctor. He was a vampire… but he had acted so human. He was genuinely concerned and cared about me and my parents. And if the gold eyes indicated animal hunting as opposed to humans… Kristi's eyes were a bright gold, but Dr. Cullen's were twice as golden. And now that I knew, I could tell he was old. His eyes held wisdom and compassion no twenty-something year old person could ever hope to achieve.

This last fact, the doctor, the vampire who was so obviously good despite who he was, convinced me. Of course Kristi would be the same way, though less experienced. And I didn't know Caleb very well, but Sylvia… she was so compassionate and caring that I could never see her as a monster. I took one last deep breath, having reached my conclusion, and opened my eyes.

"Nothing would surprise me anymore unless I found out you have a vampire boyfriend or something." I joked, smiling.

Caleb suddenly started coughing. "I think the thirst is getting to me too." he mumbled, then ran into the forest after Sylvia. I watched him go.

"Wait… WHAT?" I shrieked.

"Um. Not really. Maybe a little." Kristi protested. "You seem to be okay with the vampire thing, but not this? It's really not a big deal. I guess we've saved each other's lives a couple of times."

"Yeah, but-"

"Can we just forget about it?" she blurted, darting forward and putting her hand over my mouth. She realized her mistake an instant later.

"Oops. Sorry. I'll stand over here." she said, darting back to the other end of the small clearing. As if it would make a difference with her speed.

"It's fine. I know you're trying. But you're only seventeen! Actually, never mind, it's impressive you've managed to go this long." I concluded.

"I don't even know if I'm seventeen." Kristi protested. "We stop aging when we transform. That's why the doctor is the oldest and the others still haven't killed in decades. The doctor is like three centuries old or something, but he's only twenty-three. I turned seventeen during the process, so I'm not sure it counts."

"Wasn't your birthday the day after you disappeared? Were you… transformed… before or after midnight?" I wondered.

"You know, it might have been after. Sylvia and I were out pretty late. That makes me feel a lot better. I'd rather spend the rest of my… existence… seventeen than sixteen."

"And, you said your birthday could have passed _during_ the transformation process." I noticed.

"It usually lasts about three days. But the pain… Imagine your entire body on fire. Then multiply the pain by a hundred. Make it last three days, then add the fact that you're aware the entire time. Not unconscious. You feel everything, hear everything, and you get even more sensitive to it as your senses improve. It isn't something I would wish on anyone. And then the pain gets even more unbearable as it leaves your legs and arms and gets your heart… and it stops beating. Then your throat starts burning."

"Ouch."

"Understatement of the year." she said fervently. I felt bad for her and everyone else who had gone through it.

"So, what else can you do? As vampires, I mean." I asked curiously, but also hesitantly.

"Better speed, strength, reflexes, sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste. Our skin is unbreakable. No human could possibly hurt us. The only way we can be killed is if another vampire or werewolf tears us to pieces and burns us. I know from experience, unfortunately."

"You killed a vampire?"

"No!" Kristi cried, shocked by the idea. "The only things I have ever killed were food. But I've seen lots of vampires killed. I almost got killed myself. See, most vampires are really crazy when they first wake up. It lasts months. They're called newborns, and they're stronger than mature vampires because their own human blood still lingers and gives them strength. It lasts about a year. And most of them are completely ruled by their instincts. They get upset easily, their emotions take over, and they get into lots of fights. A few of us have a little more sense than others and can restrain ourselves somewhat. That's why the three of us are still alive. We were created to form an army to destroy this other coven of vampires, except it turns out what our creator really wanted is revenge on this particular human that stayed with the coven."

She began telling me about the first few months of her new life. I was shocked by her experiences and impressed when she showed me her special power. She could go invisible! When she finished telling me how they had gotten help from a vampire named Carlisle after the epic battle, Sylvia returned.

"Hi. Seeing as you're talking about Carlisle, I assume Brandon guessed right?"

Then I remembered- Carlisle was the first name of the doctor. "Wait, Carlisle? Didn't you say that was Doctor Cullen's name? I'm sorry, I've only seen him once but I really can't picture him fighting vampires."

"You could." Sylvia said, and I remembered Kristi mentioning she could show me memories.

"No, Sylvia, I'm fairly sure he doesn't need that image in his head. Actually, could you explain to him about the Volturi? I'd like to hunt. If it's okay with you, just a precaution." Kristi said this all hurriedly, but it could have been a normal pace for her.

I nodded, and she zipped off. Sylvia stood a few feet away from where I was sitting, and began to explain about the Volturi, the 'rulers' of the vampire world, and the reason Kristi had been reluctant to share how she had been changed. One of the reasons, anyway. They sounded freaky, and I was again grateful Kristi and her friends were trying a 'vegetarian' diet.

Kristi and Caleb returned after only a few minutes, smiling once she saw I was still alive.

"You good?" she checked, and Sylvia and I nodded. Kristi went inside to see if she could get ahold of the doctor.

"So, how are your parents doing? Or just life in general?" Sylvia asked.

"Pretty good. It got better, then worse. The teachers have been going easy on me since you disappeared. Of course, my opinion would be a lot more negative if you asked me two hours ago." I admitted, and Sylvia laughed.

"Yeah, I'm glad you know. And hey, maybe soon we can tell your parents, just not the vampirism part."

"That would be great." I agreed.

I smiled as Kristi walked towards us and held out her hand. I took it, curious and wanting to help however I could. Two seconds later, I laughed in surprise to find I was sitting at the the top of the tree with my sister, facing the rising sun.


	22. Chapter 19

_**A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update! I don't have any excuses besides writer's block and laziness. I'm planning on picking up the pace, and I will never abandon the story- one of the things that irritates me most is finding a good story that is incomplete and hasn't been updated for several years.**_

A few days later we got a phone call from Alice.

"Caius of the Volturi decided to visit. Aro talked him out of it, but he probably won't wait for long. The three of you are technically still illegal creations, and they're bound to find you if they come."

"Thanks for the warning." said Caleb, who was answering the phone.

"You need to go to Alaska."

"Alaska?" I asked, confused.

Alice had heard my question. "There is another vegetarian coven that lives there, in Denali. One of them- Eleazer- is talented, in that he can see the gifts of others. You need to go to him, and find out more about yourselves. You can work on improving your gifts there. You need all the help you can get if the Volturi find you. Your best option is to demonstrate that it is not a mistake for them to let you live, by showing your control, and showing them your gifts. That might make them want to spare you in case you decide to join them even if it is a few centuries later."

"Centuries." I echoed, a little surprised. I knew we were immortal, but I hadn't really thought out that far, about outliving people… my parents.

"Thanks. When should we leave?" Caleb asked.

"As soon as possible. The more time you have, the better. You might even want to stay there awhile- get to know some other vegetarian vampires."

"All right, we'll do that. Thanks." Caleb hung up and turned to the rest of us.

"Let's go now." Sylvia suggested. "I'm tired of this place. We have no reason to stay."

"What about our parents?" Brandon asked.

"I'm sure Alice will tell them we've gone… though probably not where."

"Alright." Brandon agreed. I grabbed a small backpack- it was really all we needed- and we darted out the door, vanishing into blurs in the trees as we ran northward.

We reached Alaska around twenty-one hours later. We stopped a few times along the way in order to hunt and look at maps. After that, we were a little unsure.

"How do you approach another coven of vampires?" Caleb asked.

"They probably wouldn't mind." Sylvia said slowly. "If they're vegetarian like us, they shouldn't be too hostile. They would be able to clearly see we're like them."

"True, and I'm sure Alice told them we're coming." I mentioned. We slowed down as we caught the smell of smoke- we were nearing a town.

"Anyone thirsty?" I checked. Caleb was a little, and so was Brandon, so they left for a couple of minutes. When they returned, we went towards the town, but were unsure what to do once we got there.

"So, how do you find people in the wilderness? It's kinda big." Brandon asked.

"Um… sniff around?" I suggested. "I'm not really sure what else to do."

"I think that's our best bet." Caleb said. "They might live in the wilderness, but they have to come into town once in awhile. We'll circle around and try to find a scent of vampire."

I crossed my fingers that the coven we were looking for had been to the town recently, and hadn't used a car. That would mess it up.

We circled around the town slowly, for us, anyway. We found nothing recent enough that it was left uncovered by snow, so we continued along a road that, according to our map, led to another town. We got there within a few minutes, and circled around it as well. Halfway around, we found the scent trail of a vampire, and it was fresh.

Sylvia frowned when she smelled it. "It smells kinda familiar."

"Well, we were at the Cullens' house, and they said this other coven is like extended family to them. We might have come across their scents." Caleb pointed out. We ran after the trail. After only a few minutes, we caught a glimpse of color through the trees- we had almost caught up to the vampire we were tracking.

"Hey, slow down, we just want to talk." I said it in a normal voice, knowing the strange vampire would hear me. Sure enough, he suddenly stopped and spun to face us.

"Hey, I thought the Denali coven was vegetarian." Brandon said. Sure enough, we could see his eyes were a bright crimson. He had blonde, curly hair and was also tall and muscular. "Maybe we should go." Brandon suggested, nervously eyeing him.

"Hold on, we can get information." I hissed. "We can deal with a single nomad- we're still alive, after all. And this will be a new experience for you."

I turned to the red-eyed vampire, who looked ready to bolt- he was outnumbered, and he knew it. "Sorry, excuse us. My brother has never met another of our kind besides us before."

"Your eyes are yellow." he stated.

"Yes." I replied. "We're looking for another coven like us- with yellow eyes, I mean. They should live somewhere around here, but we're not exactly sure where."

"Do we know you? You look sort of familiar…" Sylvia said. Since vampires have perfect memory, the only way Sylvia would have trouble remembering is if she had seen the vampire in someone else's memories.

"Do you know the Cullens?" I asked. The vampire looked a little nervous and confused by our questioning.

"No, I've never heard of them."

I looked at the nomad again, trying to figure out why I thought he looked familiar, and why his scent was familiar. Then it clicked.

"You're alive!" I exclaimed, surprised.

"Who's alive?" Brandon asked.

"Fred." Caleb replied.

Fred looked impressed. "You remember me?"

"Barely." I replied. "What are you doing here?"

"You're the vampire that can make people feel sick, right?" Brandon checked, and Fred nodded.

"I escaped from the army, and my talents made it so nobody noticed. That's why you can't remember me, even now."

"That makes sense!" Sylvia exclaimed.

"So, you guys are Caleb, Kristi, and Sylvia, but I don't know you." Fred said as he turned to Brandon.

"This is Brandon, my younger brother." Fred looked confused, so I continued. "I changed him after the three of us escaped. It's a long story."

"How did you escape? How did the battle end? Did anyone else escape?"

"Not that we know of. Everyone else on our side was killed, including Riley and our creator, Victoria."

"Everyone? I know there was a girl who was planning on escaping, after she found a friend. I told her to meet me, but she never did, and I was wondering if she had run off with him or just not escaped in the first place. Her name is Bree."

"Bree." Sylvia said softly. "She was the last. The leader of the yellow-eyed coven let her surrender, but the Volturi arrived… Do you know who the Volturi are?"

Fred nodded. "I met another nomad a month or so ago and he explained the rules. Mostly common sense, anyway."

"Well, the Volturi wouldn't have that, she was one of the ones that had caused the trouble and nearly exposed us, so she was executed. But she was brave to the end about it."

Fred sighed sadly. "I'm glad to hear that, at least. I liked her. She was smart… but if you saw her execution, where were you? And why did you lose, if you were only facing a coven of seven?"

"We would have won if we were facing a coven of seven. But the yellow-eyed coven-"

Brandon elbowed me and looked at me pointedly.

"- called the Cullens, they had these friends who could turn into giant wolves, so we were actually facing thirteen of them, and there were two more fighting Riley and Victoria. We didn't stand a chance, we were unorganized, but they knew what they were doing. Anyway, we sorta figured out we were gifted a while back, and we used our talents to hide and watch what was going on, then at the end we revealed ourselves to the leader of the Cullens. We were all really impressed by how civilized they were, even though they decimated us, and we were convinced that they actually were the good guys. So he gave us advice and supplies, we went back to the house we were staying in… which is still standing."

"Impressive." Fred said with a small smile.

I chuckled in agreement. "Funny how these things happen when we aren't trying to burn each other. So, we decided to hunt only animals, and none of us have slipped up since. We did get close with this lost hiker, though. We went to Seattle, and found Brandon, who had run away because our parents were in a car crash. We visited them, Brandon was changed around a month later, and we came up here because Alice told us to talk to Eleazar."

Fred nodded, now understanding. "Of course. I was simply surprised to see you, so I neglected to mention that I am staying with the Denali coven."

"But you still drink humans." Brandon said in a disapproving and disgusted voice.

"Yes… I've thought about changing that a few times, but I haven't made up my mind yet." he said.

"You should consider it." I encouraged. "There's a bunch of great benefits… we've been able to visit my parents several times, mostly in the hospital."

"Really?" Fred asked, surprised. He was thoughtful for a moment. "Well… I'll think about it. I'm not making a decision anytime soon, but it would be nice to see my father again. But for now, I can take you to the Denali coven, I've been staying with them for a bit."

"Great." I said. Fred turned started running, the rest of us on his heels a millisecond after.

After a minute or so, we spotted a house up on a hill. A few fancy cars were parked out front. It was strange for me seeing a nice, expensive but normal looking house out in the middle of the wilderness.

A female vampire with strawberry-blonde curls stepped out the front door and eyed us curiously. I noticed surprise cross her face when she took in our golden eyes, matching hers.

"Fred, who's this?" she asked.

"Tanya, this is Kristi, Caleb, Sylvia, and Brandon, who is still a newborn. They say the Cullens sent them. Kristi, Caleb, Sylvia, Brandon, this is Tanya, the leader of the Denali coven."

Tanya came outside, smiling. "It's nice to meet you all, I'm glad to see someone else has decided to adopt our lifestyle."

"We wouldn't think of doing it any other way." Brandon said.

Tanya eyed my little brother, and I suddenly felt a little protective. But before I could make sense of the feeling, she turned toward the house and spoke in a normal tone of voice.

"Kate. Eleazer. Carmen. We have visitors."

Three more golden-eyed vampires emerged from the house, and Tanya introduced them. Kate was the one with blonde hair, Carmen was the one with skin pale as the rest or ours, but with an almost olive tone. Eleazer, the vampire next to her who looked similar, was eyeing the four of us suspiciously.

"The Cullens sent you?" he checked.

"Not really." I replied. "Only Carlisle and Alice know of our existence, and Alice sent us over here. She said you should look at us." My tone made it clear I was unsure what we were supposed to do here.

Eleazer shook his head, smiling. "Alice. She enjoys pushing people in the right direction for a certain future, but often does not explain. It is endearing, but also a little frustrating at times. Tell me, where do you come from?"

Fred was the one who answered. "Kristi, Caleb, and Sylvia were with me in Victoria's army. They escaped during the battle."

Tanya and Kate suddenly looked ashamed. "We should have been there in that battle. We left our extended family when they needed us most…"

"They were just fine." I assured them. "One wolf was hurt, but he's fine now. Everyone else in the army was killed. We used our talents to stay hidden while they were visited by the Volturi and while the girl who surrendered was executed. Afterwards, we revealed ourselves to Carlisle, and he told us about the vegetarian diet, so we tried it. We're living in the house our army stayed in previously, and we visit my parents sometimes."

"Amazing." Carmen said. "So where did Brandon come from?"

He explained from his point of view, what had happened when Sylvia and I disappeared, how we had found him, how we visited our parents, and how he eventually became one of us.

"None of us have slipped so far." he said happily.

"Right, except we came close with the hiker, and we lived off humans for months when we were newborns." I reminded him.

"Impressive. None of you are yet a year old." Eleazer murmured. "But besides that, you have power."

I exchanged looks with the others, who looked equally confused.

"What do you know about gifted immortals?" Eleazer asked.

"Riley explained to us, when he figured out Kristi was talented." Sylvia said. "But I conveniently made him forget, so he never got around to trying to use her like he did Fred, except he didn't with Fred either because Fred had his own protection."

"You are gifted? I assume it is some sort of shield, because I am not getting anything from you." Eleazer said to me. "What can you do?"

"I can turn… not exactly invisible, because you can't hear or smell me either. After a bit, I figured out how to hide others too, and I can also keep us hidden from people who can sense minds. At least I think so, because Sylvia can't see my mind when she tries to look at my memories."

"Fascinating," Eleazer said, "And quite powerful. You don't need any more help from me."

I was confused as he turned toward Caleb. I was powerful? I was only a newborn. My talent was nothing compared to Jane's or Alice's.

"You can see gifted vampires." Caleb said to Eleazer. "That's why Alice sent us to you."

Eleazer nodded. "You seem to have some sort of shield as well. I can't get a reading on you."

"Wait…" Sylvia realized. "But Caleb is the one who told you you were talented."

Eleazer looked thoughtful. "How did you know, Caleb? Did you figure it out, were you told?"

"No… You looked at me, and I just knew."

"Sort of like what happened to me." Sylvia realized. "I tried erasing a few of his memories once, back in the army. But I forgot what I was doing instead, and he still remembered everything."

Eleazer grinned. "You are subconsciously turning the powers of others against them, while at the same time remaining unaffected."

"Whoa." I said, impressed. "But I can still hide you, I've done it several times."

Eleazer nodded. "My guess is it doesn't affect him, since it is purely defensive. If Sylvia erases your memories, you erase hers, if I see your power, you see mine, but if Kristi shields you, you can't exactly shield her in return. Or perhaps it is Kristi's shield that keeps your talent from affecting hers. Maybe you could normally unshield her, if she didn't keep you out in the first place."

One of the other vampires, Kate, stepped forward. I had been so interested in the conversation, I had almost forgotten we had an audience.

"I'm curious." she said, looking at Eleazer.

Eleazer turned back to us. "Kate has a power similar to Jane's in that it is offensive. She can shock you if you touch her skin."

"I was curious to see if your shields protect you." Kate said. "If you want, you can touch me. I promise to keep it on the low setting." she said, smiling and holding out her hand.

I was curious. I stepped forward, making sure to hide my mind first. I touched her palm and yelped as an electric shock went through my body.

"Kristi!" Caleb cried, rushing forward.

I waved him away. "I'm fine. Just shocked." I raised an eyebrow at Kate. "That was low?"

Kate shrugged. "I can put a vampire on their back with my high setting."

I eyed her warily, and she rolled her eyes. "I can only do it if you touch me, I can't send it to your mind like Jane can."

I thought about that. "Let me try again, but I'm going to go completely invisible."

Kate nodded and I hid myself entirely. She looked around, unsure of where I was, and I touched her hand again. I yelped again and backed away, but nobody else reacted.

I took off my shield. "I still definitely felt it. And I screamed again."

"None of us heard you." Brandon said.

"But I think I felt you, and I felt my gift shock someone." Kate noticed. "You were still physically there."

"My turn." Caleb said, stepping forward. Kate eyed him apprehensively, predicting the outcome. Sure enough, when Caleb touched her palm, Kate was the one who jumped back and let out a soft noise of surprise.

"Ow." she said, narrowing her eyes at Caleb.

Caleb grinned and shrugged. "Sorry. I didn't consciously do anything."

Kate looked at the other two.

"I'll pass." Brandon said, and Sylvia nodded in agreement.

Eleazer looked at me thoughtfully. "Why would Kate's power work if Sylvia's didn't?" he murmured to himself.

"Sylvia said it was like she couldn't find me mentally, but I touched Kate. Maybe it's a physical versus mental thing." I suggested.

Eleazer shook his head. "Kate's shock is mental, there is no electricity involved, but your mind thinks there is. But you might be onto something. Kate couldn't find you either, but you still touched her. Sylvia's searching was purely mental. Maybe that's the key- how the power reaches you. I was unable to locate you with my gift when you hid your mind, so I couldn't use it. Sylvia says she couldn't find you mentally either."

"Does my power work on you?" Fred asked curiously.

I nodded. "I felt it a few times back in the army, along with the general sense of revulsion whenever I looked or thought in your direction."

Eleazer looked at Fred with a questioning expression.

"I didn't target her particularly, I sent it to everyone in the room. I don't 'see' my targets in my mind the way you seem to."

Caleb frowned. "I never really understood what the big deal was. You didn't seem that bad, but I didn't want to say so and become a target for anyone."

Fred turned and looked at him. I backed away, repulsed and disgusted. But the feeling only lasted a few seconds- Caleb was still standing there, his arms crossed, and Fred was backing away, his eyes averted.

I laughed in surprise and Fred came back, shaking his head and with a grin on his face. "You could have said so, I probably could have shielded you from everyone else. I did for Bree, but she was the one who figured it out, and used me as a hiding place. You seem like a decent guy, I might have let you in."

Caleb grinned. "Thanks. I survived with Kristi and Sylvia just fine, though."

"You say you can extend your gift to others?" Eleazer asked.

I nodded. "I'm pretty sure it works mentally too, nobody noticed us after the battle, including the mind-reader. But I guess Alice did." I remembered with a smile how she had whispered something in Carlisle's ear, and he had been the last to leave, and relatively unsurprised to see us appear out of thin air.

"Jane would have noticed you." Eleazer mentioned. "Perhaps you are immune to her power as well."

I let out a small sigh of relief- it was nice not to worry about the torture she could give to me or my friends.

"You are also gifted." Eleazer said, now looking over Brandon, "But I am unsure how to describe it, I have never seen a talent like yours."

"Whoa, me too? Cool." Brandon said. "What do you know about it?"

"It functions through touch, but I am unsure besides that, though I am fairly sure it isn't a shield."

Brandon touched Eleazer's arm, and he smiled, nodding in understanding. "Amazing. Your touch gives power to others, mostly to their gifts, but it helps them physically as well. It gives power that extends and enhances the gifts of others, allowing them to do things they would normally be unable to do. Your power would work easiest and best on your closest friends and family- those you would normally support and help."

Surprised, Brandon took a step back. "Whoa. That was a lot."

Eleazer nodded. "I can't do that again, your power allowed me to see deeper than I normally could. At the same time, I can also see the relationships between your gifts. Brandon's gift enhances the others and adds another element to it. When I looked at Kristi, with Brandon's help, I could see that with Brandon's help she can protect others over a further distance, and also make herself unable to be physically felt by those who she isn't protecting, though she would still be vulnerable to gifts that reach her physically."

I looked at my younger brother in surprise. "Really? All of us are gifted? The chances of that are really slim."

Eleazer nodded. "I believe it is a coincidence that you and Sylvia are gifted, also being friends. Caleb is gifted, and he is with you because of it. Your brother is related to you, so perhaps it is genetic."

Did that mean my parents could be gifted too if they weren't human? It was a strange thought, and I was afraid to ask.

"If Brandon uses his talent with yours, Sylvia, you wouldn't have to consciously save memories you see, and you could also hear the thoughts and feel the emotions of the person during the memory."

Sylvia looked impressed, and Eleazer moved on to Caleb. "If Brandon aided your talent, you would be able to reflect the gift used against you to multiple people. Furthermore, you would be able to prevent yourself from reflecting the power, and would be able to delay it- essentially, storing the power for future use, though only for the amount of time and the level of power you felt it at. You could use it without Brandon's help."

"This is so cool." Brandon said.

Eleazer held up his hand. "I'm not finished. If you used your gift with Kate, it would be more powerful and she would be able to extend it, targeting people who are not touching her."

Kate got a smile on her face and I took a step away, reminding myself that Brandon was nowhere near her.

"Finally, Fred's power would be stronger, and he would be able to target certain individuals, as opposed to sending the revulsion out in waves."

Eleazer finally fell silent, and the rest of us watched Brandon warily.

"Um, you guys know I can't actually do that, only if you use your power first, right?" Brandon reminded us. "I'm not out to attack anybody."

"Remember, you are all newborns. Your talents will only strengthen as you age, though I suspect you have already done most of that because of the stress you were put through in the newborn army." Eleazer said. "Brandon's power, and all of your power, could strengthen and change."

"So, potentially, maybe someday Caleb could completely take other gifts, Brandon could use the gifts he enhances or make the enhancements permanent… Things like that?" Sylvia said.

"Possibly. There is no way to be certain of how gifts will progress over the years, as all minds are different."

We nodded in understanding.

"Thanks. That was… educational." Brandon said.

We looked around at each other, and Sylvia pulled out the phone.

"I'm going to check with Alice to see if we are here for any other reason." she said.

Carmen laughed. "Either way, you may stay with us as long as you wish. I'm sure you came a long way."

"Thank you." I replied. "We'll probably have to return fairly soon, our parents don't know we're here."

"They are still human?" Kate checked.

"Yes." I confirmed.

"How do you manage that as newborns?"

I launched into the story as we walked towards the house, glad to finally find another coven to confide in completely.

 _ **A/N: Thank you! Leave a review, if you have comments, questions, suggestions, etc. And to Guest: Thank you for the suggestion, I was planning on them meeting Fred, but it hadn't occurred to me to have him with the Denalis.**_

 _ **I will most likely go back and edit as well, nothing majorly plot-changing, but there are a few issues that are bugging me.**_


End file.
